Hon. Roy McTaggart Leader of The Opposition

At the recent Public Accounts Committee meeting, we learned that the Tourism Ministry would not produce a new strategic tourism plan until December 2025. Instead, they will extend the previous plan published in 2019, which did not account for the impacts of the pandemic and has now expired. 

This decision ultimately falls on the Minister of Tourism, MP Kenneth Bryan.

This approach is unacceptable. The future of our tourism industry should not be left hanging for another 18 months. Businesses and families in the tourism sector are already suffering due to the Minister’s and Government’s inaction over the past three years.

In 2020, the Progressives Government introduced an interim plan to guide the reopening and initial recovery of tourism in a post-pandemic world. 

In our 2021 election manifesto, we committed to implementing an updated tourism plan focused on recovering our tourism numbers and beginning a conversation on the future of cruise tourism. 

We understood that we had to reboot tourism.

And so, the Progressives Opposition has urged the Minister, since his first days in office, to revise and update the country’s strategic tourism plan to better guide the future growth of tourism. 

The industry has changed significantly, and evolving consumer demands, especially in the post-pandemic cruise sector, require a ‘re-imagining’ of our tourism and marketing strategy. The urgency of this cannot be overemphasised.

Instead of undertaking this essential work, the Minister has done absolutely nothing, leaving many tourism businesses struggling and many employees facing reduced incomes and even job losses. 

The consequences of this neglect are severe. The recent closure of the Hard Rock Café in George Town is one example of several businesses shutting down, with little hope of return or replacement under the current Government’s neglect.

I have previously informed the Minister that this work cannot wait until after the election. The Opposition is willing to collaborate with the Minister to start the much-needed revision and update of the tourism plan. This matter transcends political divides and is a shared responsibility towards the future of our important tourism industry and the livelihoods it supports. 

It should not be subject to political delays. Developing a new strategic tourism plan is already overdue and cannot be postponed for another 18 months while more businesses close their doors.

I strongly urge the Minister to do his job and begin the long-overdue process of revising and updating the national tourism plan immediately. Our country deserves better, our tourism workers and businesses deserve better, and most importantly, all Caymanians deserve better.