News

The Tourism Attraction Board (TAB) wishes to inform the public that the Cayman Craft Market (CCM) will remain closed as it awaits the reopening of Cayman’s borders to tourists. The CCM had previously been closed having been shut down in tandem with the border closures and lockdown that occurred with the onset of the global pandemic. The recent soft reopening of the CCM was intended to prepare vendors for the potential reopening of our borders to tourists in March 2021, as stated previously in the New Year Message by Premier Alden McLaughlin, and to solicit business from residents or anyone on island who may be looking for unique local arts and crafts. Since that time, the Premier has said he does not foresee cruise ships visiting the islands in a significant way before 2022 and therefore the Tourism Attraction Board has made the decision to close the market and find alternate means for vendors to showcase their arts and crafts at events organized by the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park and Pedro St. James. “While our vendors are working on developing new products and reinventing themselves as most businesses and entrepreneurs have done over the last year; they have noted the trial period did not prove viable. It is a mutual decision between the TAB and its Craft Market Vendors to once again close our offerings until we can all welcome visitors back to our shores in reasonably large numbers,” said TAB Director, Patrick Thompson. The CCM, due to its location, depends heavily on cruise tourism and has endured closures along with other waterfront businessesthroughout the past eleven months. However, the TAB will look to host pop-up events for its vendors and other local businesses as the opportunity presents Page | 2 itself, but the Market will remain closed on a daily basis until further notice.