Don McDougall, regional manager, CIDoT, Europe expressed his delight at the Heritage Garden’s appeal: “The footfall, media interest and demographic of visitor exceeded our expectations. We thought it likely that Chelsea’s visitor would find the Cayman Islands very appealing once they found a little more about what we have to offer, but the response and interest we had both from the public and the media was quite overwhelming.”

McDougall will be working closely with the UK trade to develop further the destination’s appeal among the special interest markets. He says “We already know that our wildlife, diving, birding and natural product sell holidays, and our floral product is the next step. As our advertising campaign states, we are “the other side of the Caribbean”. Few people realise that the Cayman Islands is such a diverse and unspoilt destination. The Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park will shortly be offering visitors privately-guided ‘director’s tours’ with Andrew Guthrie who created our garden at Chelsea. The little-visited Cayman Brac is a joy for anyone interested in horticulture, birds and butterflies. We held some interesting talks with specialist tour operators at the show, and would be very keen to talk to any other operators and agents about developing this idea further.”

The Cayman Islands’ award-winning ‘Heritage Garden’, chosen by the Independent newspaper as ‘pick of the bunch’ and featured extensively in national media including the BBC, attracted more than its fair share of celebrities. Fashion designer to the stars Ben de Lisi and Alan Titchmarsh just two of those who were drawn to the exhibit. Ben de Lisi, who dresses Kate Winslet, was inspired to paint a rare Cayman Islands’ Ghost Orchid onto one of his designer dresses.  Her Majesty the Queen had expressed interest in visiting the Heritage Garden, having opened the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park on Grand Cayman some 14 years earlier. She didn’t disappoint representatives who had flown from the Cayman Islands for the Show including the Minister for Tourism, the Hon Mr Charles Clifford.

Cayman’s sponsors included Camana Bay, one of Grand Cayman’s leading developers, and IRG Knight Frank who will be working closely with the CIDoT to position Cayman as an accessible and affordable holiday home destination.