Over 58,500 passengers in first week of year
(CNS): The cruise ship sector is off to a great start, as statistics on the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands website indicate than more than 58,500 people will be arriving in Grand Cayman this week aboard 24 ships. Nearly 7,000 passengers sailed into George Town on New Year’s Day, but that number was eclipsed Tuesday, 2 January, when six ships carrying 18,850 people were docked in port. January looks set to be a very busy month at the port, as 98 ships are scheduled to call in Grand Cayman bringing well over a quarter of a million visitors.
Although the cruise arrival numbers for December have not yet been confirmed, if the anticipated schedule was met last month, then the total cruise passenger arrivals for 2017 should have surpassed 2016 numbers by more than 25,000 passengers, with the highest arrival numbers at the port for some ten years.
The news that the cruise sector is ending 2017 on a high and going into 2018 with one of the best Januarys on record once again calls into question claims that the country needs to risk the massive and controversial cruise peer project, which will threaten the natural resources, challenge the capital’s infrastructure and test the patience of Cayman’s guests.
Category: Cruise Tourism, Tourism
We desperately need the piers. Mr Premier please fast track that project thru!
Government needs to place traffic officers or some type of constable back on the pedestrian crossings along the waterfront to ease traffic congestion and protect tourists. Half the time motorists don’t know what tourists are intending to do as they stand near the crossings in large groups. This causes either every car to stop at the crossing leading to an increase in traffic or those that are impatient to drive straight across on the assumption that everybody is just waiting around and nobody intends to cross.