Exclusive and low profile in the past, the niche Caribbean destinations of St Vincent and the Grenadines at last have something to shout about – two new resorts that plan to make their mark with the British.
The private resort of Palm Island opened in January after it was bought by leading Caribbean hotelier Rob Barrett, who also owns the Antigua Resorts collection of three hotels.
Barrett has spent more than US$3m upgrading the 40-room, all-inclusive resort, which sits on a 135-acre private island, so that it matches the standards of his flagship, five-star property Galley Bay.
The owners of the second new resort, the 178-room Carenage Bay Beach and Golf Club on Canouan, are Italian and, like Barrett, are looking for a mainly European clientele.
Carenage UK representative Elaine Vaughan said:”We are a very different type of hotel from Palm Island, much more Mediterranean in feel than Caribbean. We are already getting a lot of business from Italy which is understandable but the UK is proving to be our second largest market.”
Facilities at Carenage Bay include the Grenadines’ only 18-hole golf course, as well as a casino, although Vaughan is keen to stress that it is a glamourous, Monaco-style casino, ‘as far away from Las Vegas as you could be’.
Specialist operators to the Grenadines keen to feature some fresh, new product have snapped up both Palm Island and Carenage Bay.
Caribtours is among those which have included the resorts in their 2000 brochures. General manager Paul Cleary said: “We have seen a big increase in business to St Vincent and the Grenadines for summer 2000 and most of this has come from bookings for Palm Island and Carenage Bay. Hotels in the Grenadines do most of the marketing for the destination and it needed a new impetus.”
In the UK, St Vincent and the Grenadines almost sells itself. Its repeat market is as high as 60% and the clientele are well-heeled and discerning but the market is not growing. In fact, last year the islands attracted 10,498 UK visitors from January to November, a decrease of half a percent compared to the same period in 1998.
Tourist office director Jasmine Baksh is hoping that new connecting services to the Grenadines from Barbados by inter-Caribbean airlines Air Jamaica Express and BWIA Express will open the islands up to a wider clientele.
“Our problem has been access and the unreliability of connecting flights from LIAT but with BWIA Express now running a three-times-a-week service from Barbados and Air Jamaica Express starting at the end of this month we are really becoming a much more viable option,” said Baksh.