(Sandals)- Sandals Resorts International is set to begin work on a number of exciting new projects in the region this year, which will not only increase the resort’s portfolio but also create an additional 5,000 new jobs over the next five years. The World’s Leading Resort Company recently announced the acquisition of new properties in Curacao, Saint Vincent and Jamaica, and will also resume work on a fourth resort in Saint Lucia as part of its expansion drive.
Earlier this year Sandals Executive Chairman Adam Stewart, along with a team of senior officials including Chief Executive Officer Gebhard Rainer and Chief Operations Officer Shawn DaCosta met with Saint Lucian Prime Minister the Hon. Mr. Allen Chastanet to discuss the project, which will be developed adjacent to the Sandals Grande Saint Lucian Spa and Beach Resort on Pigeon Island.
The Sandals Executive Chairman said that much of the groundwork has already been done at the proposed site of the resort, and this should allow for a very quick start up of this project.
“We are in the process of re-imagining this project. We have scaled down the density of what we had initially planned, but we have dialed up the luxury,” Stewart explained. “We are now looking at a resort with very high-end suites, one which will redefine the meaning of luxury all-inclusive and which will once again place Saint Lucia at the front of the line when it comes to what it has to offer the traveller.”
The construction phase of the project will provide jobs for approximately 400 labourers and skilled workers and once finished, the new Saint Lucia resort will create an additional 350 permanent jobs.
“Since we established our first hotel in 1992 Saint Lucia has always been a place very dear to my dad, the late Hon. Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart. I fondly recall coming to the island with him during the early days of construction and over the many years since my entire family and I have come to love this amazing island and its people just as he did. At the moment we have three incredible hotels, and we are proud to continue our investment in this amazing country by expanding further,” stated Mr. Stewart.
Meantime the company is in the process of ‘Sandalising” the recently acquired Santa Barbara Resort on Spanish Water Bay in Curacao, which will see the development of 350 luxurious rooms and suites in the first instance, with a further expansion planned for later on.
Several new resort projects are also slated to be officially rolled out in Jamaica. In addition, Sandals is keen to press ahead with its newest Beaches resort to be built at the former Buccament Bay site in St Vincent & the Grenadines.
