Beaches launches US$1b Caribbean expansion - Holness says regional growth of Jamaican-owned brands strengthens national wealth

WESTERN BUREAU:

The official opening of Treasure Beach Village at Beaches Resorts in the Turks and Caicos Islands on Saturday marked the first major step in a planned US$1-billion expansion for the Jamaican-owned hospitality brand.

The investment will see Beaches Resorts double its footprint across the Caribbean over the next several years.

Speaking with The Gleaner during the ceremony, Jamaica Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness described the investment as an example of Jamaican “national wealth” extending beyond the island’s shores through regional companies capable of exporting talent, creating jobs and expanding the country’s influence across the Caribbean.

Holness said the success of companies such as Sandals and Beaches should be viewed as part of Jamaica’s broader economic strength, arguing that the benefits extend beyond the island whenever Jamaican-owned businesses expand regionally.

“We need to understand what national wealth is,” Holness said. “The national wealth also includes the Jamaican private sector, who are grown in Jamaica, who innovate in Jamaica, and who export to other countries regionally.”

Drawing comparisons to global corporations such as Microsoft, Tesla and Huawei, Holness said more Jamaican companies capable of building wealth through innovation and regional expansion should be encouraged to take the next steps in this direction.

“For us, we have GraceKennedy, we have Sandals, and quite a few other companies that are playing regionally,” he said. “What I would like to see are more Jamaican companies building wealth using Jamaican talent, using Jamaican experience to innovate and create products that they export.”

Holness said the regional presence of Sandals and Beaches also created opportunities for Jamaicans to continue earning and supporting families back home, even when properties in Jamaica were impacted by Hurricane Melissa.

“When I come here and I enter a room, the people who greet me are Jamaicans at all levels of the hotel,” Holness said, recounting a conversation with one employee whose home had been damaged during the hurricane, but who was able to continue working after being transferred to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“That is the power of having a global or regional company,” he added. “It’s a benefit to the country.”

The newest addition to Beaches Turks and Caicos officially opened its doors in March, but Saturday’s ceremony formally unveiled the US$150-million Treasure Beach Village as the first project in what Beaches executives describe as a new era for the brand.

Executive Chairman Adam Stewart called the development “Beaches 2.0”, and said it reflected the company’s long-term confidence in Caribbean tourism and Caribbean people.

“This is the first of five new resorts,” Stewart said during his address. “Next year, we will open Beaches Exuma in The Bahamas. The year after that, Beaches Barbados. The year after that, the new Beaches in Jamaica. And then the year after that, St Vincent and the Grenadines.”

Stewart said the company’s growth was rooted in the vision of his late father, Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, who founded the company 45 years ago and believed deeply in the potential of Caribbean tourism.

“My late incredible father founded this company 45 years ago,” Stewart said. “He was a champion of believing in what is possible, the Caribbean dream, and believing in Caribbean tourism and Caribbean people more than anybody else that I know.”

Stewart also reflected on the company’s historic ties to Turks and Caicos, revealing that his grandfather first travelled to the islands by merchant ship in the 1950s and later encouraged his father to visit what he described as “the prettiest islands in the Caribbean”.

Premier Charles Washington Misick described Beaches Turks and Caicos as the “marquee property” of the Beaches brand, and said the latest expansion further strengthened the territory’s position as a high-end tourism destination.

“This resort actually does two things,” Misick said. “It raises the bar in terms of accommodation quality, and it adds to the number of beds and has positive implications for additional airlift.”

Misick said Turks and Caicos intentionally targets affluent travellers because of the high cost structure of operating tourism in the territory.

“We have to shoot for the high-end, low-density, high-value rather than mass tourism,” he said, noting that average room rates during winter can exceed US$1,000 per night.

Tourism, he added, remains the lifeblood of the Turks and Caicos economy, accounting directly and indirectly for as much as 70 to 80 per cent of gross domestic product.

Treasure Beach Village introduces 101 multi-bedroom suites, six new dining concepts, a 15,000-square-foot lagoon-style pool, Beaches’ first food hall, and the brand’s first Starfish Cinema.

The village forms part of Beaches Turks and Caicos, which has grown from a 150-room property in 1995 into one of the Caribbean’s most recognised family all-inclusive resorts. janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com