The Cayman Islands has topped the 7,000-room milestone, tourism officials told Caribbean Journal this week.
The destination has added more than 1,000 new rooms in the last three years, with the condominium and villa categories accounting for 73 percent of that increase, according to a statement.
The Cayman Islands now has a total of 7,027 rooms available across its three destinations, including 6,646 in Grand Cayman, 220 in Cayman Brac and 161 in Little Cayman.
“We have seen continued interest from the community to embrace entrepreneurship opportunities in tourism through homesharing, which accounts for 32.2% of the total rooms now available,” said Cayman Islands Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism, the Honourable Moses Kirkconnell. “Through the Ministry and Department of Tourism’s commitment to facilitating annual training and educational forums led by international partners such as Airbnb, as well as meeting regularly with potential developers to provide business solutions, we are extremely proud to now offer the largest and most diverse room stock numbers available to our visitors.” In total, as of 31 October 2019, there are currently 799 licensed properties representing 9,958 beds.”
Of those rooms, condos and villas account for approximately 4,310 rooms, compared to 2,717 rooms in the hotel category.
“As the Cayman Islands gears up for what is anticipated to be another active winter season around the globe, we encourage our tourism partners—whether new to the industry or long-established — to continue providing our world-renowned warmth through our Caymankind hospitality and our rich cultural experiences,” Kirkconnell said. “The efforts we make today will secure friends of Cayman for a lifetime and allow others to share in the essence of ‘Dreaming in Cayman’ We congratulate all tourism partners as we continue to work together to maximize our destination achievements.”
– CJ