Cayman Islands Department of Tourism Statement on International Agency Contracts

Cayman Islands 21 June 2024
Our mission at the CIDOT is to drive visitation that contributes to the government tax revenue streams and supports local businesses.

Tourism is a vital pillar of the Cayman Islands economy and in 2023 the industry contributed $46.5 million dollars in direct tax revenues from airport fees, hotel licensing fees, tourism accommodation tax and time share tax. Tourism drives economic stimulation that benefits a diverse offering of local businesses including restaurants, retail, ground transport, sites & attractions, tour operators and event management companies. 

Our mission at the CIDOT is to drive visitation that contributes to the government tax revenue streams and supports local businesses. 

In service of this mission, agencies have been part of the CIDOT ecosystem for almost 30 years as we recognise the importance of having representation in our source markets who understand those markets and can act as a strategic advisor in our communications, advertising, and media outreach to attract potential visitors. 

With CIDOT’s budget allocation remaining the same year over year, we continually seek ways to maximize our funds and modernize the way we do business. We were able to find cost efficiencies by taking expiring contracts with USA, UK and Canadian creative agencies and replacing them with one creative agency, to achieve one global retainer fee instead of three. 

Our most recent contracts are the result of a robust procurement process governed by the Procurement Act 2018, this process was run because of the three creative agency contracts in the USA, Canada and the UK expiring. The cost of the contracts publicized is representative of the total value of the contracts over a five-year period and should not be misconstrued as a one-time or one year investment.

The new global creative agency will be tasked with creating one brand campaign that will resonate with visitors across all our source markets including Latin America. In addition to creating the brand campaign the agencies are also responsible for managing our presence over thousands of advertising placement channels and producing all advertising mechanicals needed to fulfill our advertising plan globally.

The CIDOT stands behind the agencies that were selected and looks forward to showing the public the results of the approved annual advertising investments. 

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