In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Rosa Harris, Tourism Director of Cayman Islands.
What are your feelings when presenting the destination for the first time here at WTM?
We are very excited to be here at WTM Latam in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We have quite a bit of representation from the destination, the Marriott hotel and the Wyndham resort, as well as our national airline, Cayman Airways. We are very happy to be here with a strong Cayman Islands representation. We met many professionals, media and people who provide solutions for the destination and the airlines.
What is the current tourism situation in your destination?
We have a very solid first quarter. We are ninety-six percent of our highest year on record. We are still recovering from 2019, our highest year on record for visitors by air. Our average daily rates are high, our occupancy is good, and we are diversifying the market with five new hotels over time. We have a lot of activity going on, we are very proud of it.
How is the connectivity found?
It's something we work on constantly. We travel the world to meet with airlines. As you know, the North American market is our main source market. But our growing market and where we spend a lot of time is Latin America. That's why we are here in Brazil. We work a lot in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Our national airline flies to Panama. That is the most efficient connection point for Latin America. In addition to Cayman Airways, there is very good connectivity through Miami, Florida, with multiple airlines flying to the Cayman Islands. Here at the fair we have already spoken with Copa today, and we hope to meet with Azul.
How is the cruise industry doing?
The cruise segment is very important for us. The cruise industry has the largest number of local Caymanian entrepreneurs in tourism in the Cayman Islands. Therefore, it is an important business for citizens. It also employs a very large number of land transport and water sports operators.
Our guest satisfaction ratings among cruise lines are very high, 85% and above. We are very happy with maintaining the cruise business.
How are you working with hoteliers to get new promotions in the destination?
Everyone wins during the winter season and for LATAM it is quite the opposite. Their winter is during our summer. That is an opportunity for us. Cayman already does a lot of business from December to April, annually as our peak season. That's why we like to focus on areas that are slower or at the end of the seasons. Our hoteliers participate in seasonal programs. Our national airline makes annual sales of airline tickets. We do a summer promotion and a full promotion. We also target our campaigns at couples, honeymoons and destination weddings. We also have festivals and music events that attract many people throughout the year.
And in June we will have a very relevant music festival. So, during the months of April to June, we have many music and gastronomy festivals, and we also organize carnivals.