Alden backs off help for cruise tourism

Premier Alden McLaughlin at Tuesday’s press conference

(CNS): Prime Minister Alden McLaughlin has announced that there will be no obligation to build a cruise ship dock in the “coalition” manifesto. Reversing his previous firm support for cruise tourism, McLaughlin said the business community and the general public have made it clear that they want a more balanced approach to the overwhelming numbers of cruise lines.

McLaughlin spoke at a press conference on Tuesday about the announcement of the proposed Aster Hospital in West Bay (story to be released soon) that medical tourism is one way to fill the void that cruise tourism has left. He stated that the coalition had made a decision that they would not include plans for a dock in their manifesto and therefore there would be no mandate to build a dock.

Although McLaughlin has been an advocate of cruise tourism in the past and did everything in his power to thwart the potential success of the referendum against the dock, he made a complete about-face in his position, saying that supporting medical tourism was instead “part a conscious effort “to diversify the entire tourism industry. He said that if his coalition kept government there would be “less emphasis on growing cruise tourism”.

After the considerable effort he and his cabinet made to undermine the real grassroots opposition to the dock, which the government chased until the successful petition derailed it, McLaughlin finally seemed to accept that the majority of the people of Cayman were no longer supports mass cruise tourism.

“I think we have a very clear signal from almost every source … that we can survive without those big numbers and need more balance … so as not to overwhelm the systems we have with sheer crowds,” said he and noticed that this was the result of a year-long cruise tourism.

He said those who are addicted to cruise tourism will need help in finding better ways to make a living.

“But the clear signal we have from the business community and the locals is that we don’t want to go back to the large number of visitors,” said McLaughlin. He added that if we don’t build a dock, we won’t get larger cruise ships. So the logical conclusion is that the government is looking for business elsewhere.

Instead, he said, things are merging to give the government an opportunity to move things in a different direction, with an emphasis on medical tourism. He said the aim is not to get rid of cruise tourism but to limit the numbers and improve the visitor experience.