A local aviation executive believes that airline revenues will soar following the relaxation of visa requirements for Jamaicans travelling to the Cayman Islands (CI).

“Of course we will see more traffic,” stated Skylan’s chief technical officer Victor Spence in an interview with the Business Observer yesterday. “I always thought that the idea of Jamaicans needing a visa for Cayman was a bad move, and with the removal we will see more air traffic.”

Last Friday, Cayman Premier McKeeva Bush announced that visa exemptions will be put in place for Jamaicans who hold validated US, UK or Canadian visas.

The decision, Bush said, was taken to improve his country’s business environment. He was speaking at the Northern Caribbean Conference on Economic Co-operation attended by 160 representatives of government and the private sector from across the sub-region. The conference focused on issues relating to the Bahamas, The Cayman Island, Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

“We have had many requests to go to the Cayman Islands, but don’t because of the visa requirement,” said Spence. “For instance, we know of sporting groups who want to go to Cayman but have had issues with visas, and this will remove those burdens.”

Skylan operates scheduled domestic flights in conjunction with charters throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, including the Cayman Islands.

The Business Observer tried without success to get a reaction to the new visa regime from Jamaica Air Shuttle, which also flies to the Cayman Islands.

The disincentive for Jamaican travellers was a US$112 processing fee along with a police report which was needed to travel to the British territory which once was a dependent of Jamaica.

The visa was first introduced by the Cayman Government in 2005 following increased criminality by Jamaicans there. The Jamaican Government reciprocated, but its impact was arguably most felt as Caymanians needed to first obtain a Jamaica visa in order to obtain a US visa. The US Embassy in Kingston acts as the full CI consulate.

Data on travel between the two countries has not been disaggregated by the Cayman Islands. However, Jamaicans comprise a large portion of the workforce in CI, due to the high standard of living there.