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Apple Leisure Group’s AMResorts has completed a major expansion to its Now Onyx all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana. 

The hotel has added 320 new rooms to its beachfront property in the Uvero Alto area of greater Punta Cana, calling the new wing, centered around a new water park, “Now Onyx Splash.”

The new rooms are part of a broader improvement project that has also added the waterpark, which includes four waterslides, a lazy river and a waterfall. 

The expansion gives the resort a total of 822 rooms. 

They’re part of a portfolio of six resorts in Punta Cana developed by Grupo Martinon, which now has a total of 3,000 rooms in the area. 

Five of those are projects in partnership with Apple Leisure Group, said Alex Zozaya, executive chairman of Apple Leisure Group. 

The hotel, which first opened its doors in 2016, has 10 eateries, 10- bars, a disco, a spa and a casino. 

Dominican Republic Tourism Minister Francisco, who was on hand for the opening ceremony, said the project was another sign of the continued strength of Punta Cana. 

Garcia said the Dominican Republic was the Caribbean destination with the “highest level of investment attraction in the region,” echoing the sentiments of Apple Leisure Group’s Javier Coll.

Indeed, the Dominican Republic has long been a major priority for Apple Leisure Group.

In February, the resort company will open another new property with the Dreams Macao Beach Resort, also set in greater Punta Cana.

Indeed, there are more hotel rooms under construction right now in the Dominican Republic than anywhere else in the Caribbean. 

And after a slowdown in the summer months, tourism seems to be surging again in the country, according to data from Allianz.

For more, visit Now Onyx. 

– CJ

The post A Big Expansion at Punta Cana’s Now Onyx Resort appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Jamaica is getting a wave of new airlift for the upcoming winter tourist season, officials told Caribbean Journal. 

The destination has secured almost 80,000 new air seats for the period, in order to meet what officials called “increased demand from travelers.”

The vast majority of those seats are coming from the northeastern United States, with more than 64,000 additional seats, largely out of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. 

That includes United Airlines’ increased frequency from Newark to Montego Bay, along with American Airlines’ increase in service to Montego Bay from Philadelphia, among others.

Jamaica has been seeing a surge in tourism arrivals so far this year, with more than 2 million stayover visitors through the end of September. 

That represents a 9.1 percent increase over the same period in 2018, Jamaica’s highest arrival growth rate in years. 

That’s been buoyed by strong growth out of the all-important United States source market, which has sent 13.5 percent more travelers to Jamaica in the period. 

 “We’re pleased with the growing demand for travel options to Jamaica, and the increased airlift makes the destination even more accessible for winter travelers,” said Donovan White, Jamaica’s director of tourism. 

The post New Airlift Fueling Jamaica Tourism Surge appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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It’s been a banner year so far for tourism in the Cayman Islands, and the numbers continue to climb for what is one of the hottest destinations in the wider Caribbean. 

The tri-island destination has seen 386,290 stayover visitors through the first three quarters of 2019, representing a 10.3 percent increase over the same period in 2018. 

That number is among the fastest growth rates of any destination in the Caribbean, according to data from the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s most recent report. 

Last month, in what is typically a slow month for the region, Cayman posted a 5.76 percent increase compared to October 2018.

Overall, the growth has been led by a 10.5 percent increase from the all-important United States market, which sent Cayman 325,696 visitors so far this year, a jump of 10.5 percent. 

“It is reaffirming to hear first-hand the positive impact our stayover strategy is having on stimulating tourism businesses’ profit margin during what we consider traditional shoulder season,” said Cayman Islands Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell. 

And visitors are spending, too. 

Stayover visitors have spent more than $560.9 million so far this year, itself an 11.3 percent increase over the first nine months of 2018, according to new data from the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism. (That represented an increase of $57.1 million).

“The Ministry has been steadfast in its commitment to our sector and the community at large to create more opportunities for entrepreneurship, training and development for those interested in tourism related endeavours, endeavours that largely rely on air arrivals to maintain a successful business model,” Kirkconnell said. 

The numbers come as the Cayman Islands recently announced that it had topped 7,000 total accommodation units,, a significant milestone and a strong harbinger for Cayman’s continued growth. 

The tourism improvement has been buoyed by several factors, from a continued, robust marketing push to a rapid expansion in airlift over the last several years. 

The latter was punctuated by the debut earlier this year of Grand Cayman’s brand new airport terminal, christened during a visit to the island by Prince Charles. 

And the improvements have not gone unnoticed by investors. 

Indeed, Cayman has become a leading destination for luxury hotel brands. 

That means new hotels on the way ranging from a Curio Collection by Hilton on the edge of George Town to the highly-anticipated Mandarin Oriental project to a new Grand Hyatt-branded residential resort on the island’s world-famous Seven Mile Beach. 

For more, visit the Cayman Islands.

The post Travelers Are Flocking to the Cayman Islands appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Virgin Atlantic is expanding its flights from the United Kingdom to Barbados next year. 

The airline will be adding a new weekly flight from Manchester to Barbados for the whole of the summer of 2020, the company confirmed. 

The new flight is part of a wider expansion for Virgin Atlantic at Manchester Airport. 

The expansion is “the latest phase in our growth strategy at Manchester, our home in the North,” said Juha Jarvinen, EVP Commercial at Virgin Atlantic. 

“In September we committed to 30,000 additional seats from Manchester for Winter 2019 and today, we are expanding on that with an extra 43,000 seats to key leisure destinations for Summer 2020, which is a clear sign of our ambition to offer increased choice to our customers travelling from the North West,” Jarvinen said. 

Virgin Atlantic is also adding a new Clubhouse at Manchester Airport in the spring of 2020, the company said.

It will be open to Virgin’s Upper Class and Gold Card members, with amenities including a spa, a full-service bar and a la carte dining. 

— CJ

The post Virgin Atlantic Adding 10,000 Seats to Barbados appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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