Explore Cayman - the 'Island Heaven' at the Caribbean Sea

The overseas British colony of Cayman Island is located at the western Caribbean Sea. Cayman Islands are a combination of three islands --- the Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. The Cayman Islands were first visited by Christopher Columbus on May 10, 1503. The first English visitor to the Cayman was Sir Francis Drake, who landed there in 1586 and named them the "Cayman Islands". The islands, along with nearby Jamaica, were ceded to England in 1670 under the Treaty of Madrid. Cayman Island was governed as a single colony with Jamaica until 1962, when they became a separate British overseas territory.

Presently, Cayman Island is one of the developed Caribbean states and the major share of the GDP of Cayman Island comes from the tourism industry. Apart from the amazing natural beauty of the white sand clad wide beaches and 'gin clear' sea water, there are many factors that play a major role in boosting the growth of tourism in Cayman. Let us examine these key factors of Cayman tourism one by one.

Transportation to and from Cayman Island: Cayman is located at 480 miles south of Miami, 150 miles south of Cuba and 180 miles northwest of Jamaica. There are regular flights to, from and within the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Airways is the national airliner that operates regular flights within the three sister islands of Cayman as well as from major U.S. cities including Boston, Chicago-ORD, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. They also have flights from Jamaica (Kingston and Montego Bay). Following are some of the other airlines that offer flights to and from Cayman.

• American Airlines - American Airlines has regular flights to Grand Cayman Islands from Miami. Website : www.aa.com

• Delta Airlines - Delta Airlines has daily flights to Grand Cayman via Atlanta. Seasonal flights from JFK (New York) are also offered from December thru April. Website : www.delta.com

• US Airways - US Airways has regular direct flights between Philadelphia and Charlotte, NC and Grand Cayman. Website : www.usairways.com

• Northwest Airlines - Northwest Airlines has seasonal direct daily flights from Minneapolis and Detroit to Grand Cayman. Website : www.nwa.com

• Continental Airlines - Continental Airlines has regular flights from all over the world connecting to Grand Cayman via their hub cities of Newark, NJ and Houston, TX. Website : www.continental.com

• British Airways - British Airways has four weekly flights from London to Grand Cayman Islands. Website : www.britishairways.com

• Air Jamaica - Air Jamaica has regular direct flights and several weekly flights between Grand Cayman and Kingston, Jamaica. Website : www.airjamaica.com

• Air Canada - Air Canada flies direct twice per week from Toronto. Website : www.aircanada.ca

Besides these flights, Islena Airlines [Website : www.flyislena.com] connects Grand Cayman with La Ceiba, Honduras, and Cubana Airlines [Website : www.cubana.cu] offers weekly flights from Grand Cayman to Havana.

Apart from these airlines, another great way to arrive at Cayman is through luxury cruise. There are quite a few famous cruise liners that operate in the region, including NYK Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regal Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Royal Cruise Lines, Sun Line Cruises and Carnival Cruises.

Cayman Islands Weather: Another major factor that greatly influences the Cayman tourism is its tropical weather. Though the year is divided into two seasons, winter (December to March) and summer (April to November), there is no significant difference in the Cayman Islands weather. Temperature in the winter ranges from 64° F to 86° F and during summer the temperature varies between 85° F and 90° F.

Cayman Hospitality and Cayman Dining Industry: There are endless options when it comes to selecting the hotel in Cayman and Cayman restaurants. You can choose to live at the luxury star hotels as well as condos or get a relatively inexpensive vacation rental option. You get really unlimited choices in foods that are offered by the Cayman restaurants, spread over all the three islands. The Cayman restaurants offer great food and of widest variety including European, Italian, Mexican, German, Thai, Chinese, Indian, Japanese and of course the local Caymanian dishes that are largely influenced by the Jamaican cuisine. Though most of the best restaurants in the Cayman Islands are in Grand Cayman and Grand Cayman restaurants offer you most of the varieties, there are many restaurants at the other two islands as well and they are equally good as the restaurants in Grand Cayman.

Transportation in Cayman: The best part of the Cayman Island traveling is the well organized and professional car rental sector. There are quite a number of Grand Cayman car rental services, as well as effective car hire solution in the other two islands. The Grand Cayman car rental companies provide you with latest models of renowned international companies. Though you will get more options of hiring cars and SUVs in Grand Cayman car rental market, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are also offering service that matches the standard of car rental in Grand Cayman.

Apart from directly boosting the economy of Cayman Island, tourism is also indirectly influencing the Grand Cayman real estate sector. Despite of a sluggish growth and pessimistic assumptions of the real estate agents of Grand Cayman, the industry is doing well even after the destructive hurricane Ivan. As most of the buyers of the Grand Cayman real estate as well as real estate properties of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are foreigners, it is basically the effect of booming tourism. A large section of the tourists who visit Cayman every year fall in love with the beauty of the place and they decide to buy a Grand Cayman real estate property for themselves. As there is no restriction on foreigners buying real estates in Grand Cayman, the Grand Cayman Island real estate is flooded with foreign buyers. Moreover, there is no sales tax, no income tax, no capital gains tax, no property tax and no inheritance tax and these have also prompted many to settle in Cayman that is also referred as 'tax heaven'.

Cayman waits to turn your holiday to a memorable experience of lifetime.