“I am very excited for the opportunity to lead the Wymara Team during such an exciting and defining moment in the resort’s history, welcoming new offerings and upholding service standards aligned with Forbes Five Stars to shape each guest’s perfect stay,” Collazo said.
The Wymara will soon break ground on the second phase of its villa expansion project, which will add five new villas in the Turtle Tail neighborhood of Providenciales.
The additions will also include a tennis and basketball court, a lap pool, a game room. a bocce court, a sauna and a steam room to the villa section.
A partnership between Royal Caribbean International and Bahamas Port Investments has purchased the Grand Lucayan Resort on Grand Bahama in The Bahamas.
The government of The Bahamas was the seller of the property, which it had originally purchased the resort in 2018 from Hong Kong-based Hutchinson Whampoa.
The Royal Caribbean partnership is expected to make a $250 million investment between the hotel and the redevelopment of Freeport’s cruise port.
While Royal Caribbean’s expertise is of course in the cruise sector, Minnis said the plan for the project is to reinvent Grand Bahama’s tourism product both for land-based guests and cruise and ferry passengers.
The centerpiece of the project will be the transformation of the Grand Lucayan hotel property, which will include a major refurbishment and reconstruction of 500 rooms in the first phase.
The second phase of the project will see another 500 rooms, along with 500 villas.
The property will also see a new casino, a water park and a new shopping, restaurant and retail center.
On the cruise side, a new cruise port will be built in Freeport Harbour to accommodate three ships.
The Grand Lucayan.
Subsequent phases could see capacity increase to up to seven ships.
“This entire project, hotel and waterpark right here plus [the] new cruise port, plus attractions down at the Freeport Harbour is absolutely monumental for tourism in Grand Bahama,” Bahamas Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said.
“As we stated at the time it was our intention to privatize the property as quickly as possible,” Bahamas Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said. “We wanted to ensure that we found the right buyer who shared our vision for the renewal of Grand Bahama. Our vision was the renewal and rebirth of Grand Bahama’s tourism sector and product as an essential element in the restoration of the island’s potential.”
“This $250 million dollar investment will go a long way in revitalizing Grand Bahama, with myriad economic and employment opportunities for more Grand Bahamians,” Minnis said. “After many false dawns, there is an exciting new horizon for our second-most-populous island and economic center.”
Royal Caribbean will also be offering training for Bahamians through its RCCL Training Academy.
Minnis said talks are already underway as to the best way to redevelop Grand Bahama International Airport, “which will require a major investment.”
“I am extremely excited that the intended purchasers of this hotel are Royal Caribbean and the ITM Group,” D’Aguilar said in a statement.
While the Grand Lucayan itself has been shuttered for several years, its Lighthouse Point all-inclusive property remains open and accepting visitors as one of the island’s top all-inclusive options.
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Spirit Airlines is turning 2020 into the Year of Cancun.
The low-cost carrier announced plans to add yet another new route to the ultra-popular destination on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, this time with service from New Orleans.
It’s part of a wider Caribbean expansion out of the Louisiana city, with a pair of new routes set to launch later this spring.
That will include new flights from New Orleans to both Cancun, Mexico and San Pedro Sula near the Caribbean coast of Honduras.
The new Cancun flights will launch June 10, with the new flights to San Pedro Sula launching June 11.
The Honduras flights will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, with the company’s new Cancun flights running four times each week, with service on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
“We are very proud to announce our direct flights from New Orleans to two international destinations,” said Ted Christie, president and CEO of Spirit Airlines. “These new routes are part of our commitment to invest in our passengers. Whether traveling to Cancun for pleasure or to San Pedro Sula to see family and friends, we will continue to connect our passengers with the communities and destinations they are looking for the most.”
Spirit is the third-largest airline operating at New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport.
A massive new destination hotel complex by Karisma Hotels and Resorts has officially broken ground in Jamaica.
The estimated $1 billion USD multi-hotel Sugarcane Bay Jamaica project is set on 226 acres in Llandovery in Jamaica’s “garden parish” of St Ann.
The project will have approximately 4,700 hotel rooms, according to Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who was on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony this week.
From left: Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Karisma, Armando Chomat; Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett; Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Mayor of St Ann’s Bay, Councillor Michael Belnavis.
“Significant investments have been made in the industry and these investments have been able to generate significant returns,” said Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness. “Investors know that investing in Jamaica is a profitable business.”
Bartlett said the new project was a “new chapter” in the tourism identity of St Ann.
It also could create as many as 10,000 jobs, according to Jamaican officials.
“We are very excited about the partnership and I want to say to you that this is a very important moment that you are showing confidence in destination Jamaica,” Bartlett told the Karisma team. “It’s an important moment too, when you are saying to the world, given the current situation that we are facing, tourism is still the energizer of economic activities globally.”
St Ann is known as the “garden parish” of Jamaica.
The massive new project is part of Jamaica’s stated plan to add some 15,000 new hotel rooms to the destination’s stock over the next three to five years, according to Bartlett.
