The inside track on the Cayman Islands' eclectic tourism offering

Expect big things from the Cayman Islands, with its tourism department outlining a new strategy for boosting UK visitor numbers and changing perceptions of the Caribbean island.

Part of its five-year global tourism plan has seen the appointment of Adrian White, regional manager for UK and Europe, who will head up the marketing strategy, and new sales executive Irene Orozco, taking responsibility for developing trade partnerships.

“The Cayman Islands aren’t as well known as Barbados or Jamaica in the UK,” says White. “People think it’s quite expensive to stay there. And yes, while there are plenty of five-star luxury resorts and no all-inclusive hotels, we also have three-star options, apartments and villas. We want to show agents there are plenty of options for all budgets and tastes.”

To change perceptions and help agents sell Cayman, Orozco is overseeing a series of trade initiatives, including revamped online training, fam trips, roadshows and branch visits.

“We’ve organised the online training by themes,” she says. “There are more pictures, maps and fewer questions, making the process much quicker for busy agents.”