Beaches unveils US$1b Caribbean growth drive as Holness links regional expansion to Jamaica’s national wealth

WESTERN BUREAU: Saturday’s formal launch of Treasure Beach Village at Beaches Resorts in the Turks and Caicos Islands marked the opening chapter of a US$1-billion growth programme for the Jamaican-owned hospitality group.

Over the coming years, the spend is expected to roughly double Beaches Resorts’ presence across the Caribbean.

Addressing guests at the event, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness told The Gleaner the project shows how Jamaica’s “national wealth” can reach past the coastline through firms that hire regionally, move skills abroad, and widen the country’s footprint in neighbouring markets.

Holness urged Jamaicans to treat successes at home-grown groups such as Sandals and Beaches as part of the wider national economy, noting that gains are not confined to the island when those businesses grow elsewhere in the region.

“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.”

He likened the goal to how global giants such as Microsoft, Tesla and Huawei build value through innovation and scale, and said Jamaica should push more firms to follow that path.

“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 also pointed to how a regional Sandals and Beaches network can keep Jamaicans employed and sending support home, including when storms hit properties on the island. He cited Hurricane Melissa as a recent test of that model.

“When I come here and I enter a room, the people who greet me are Jamaicans at all levels of the hotel,” Holness said, describing talks with a worker whose house was hit by the hurricane but who kept earning after a transfer to the Turks and Caicos property.

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

Treasure Beach Village began welcoming guests in March, but Saturday’s ceremony presented the US$150-million site as the lead project in what leaders call a new chapter for Beaches.

Executive Chairman Adam Stewart branded the development “Beaches 2.0”, saying it signals long-term faith in Caribbean tourism and in Caribbean workers.

“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 credited the roadmap to his late father, Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, who started the company 45 years ago and championed the region’s tourism potential.

“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.”

He also recalled family history in the territory, noting his grandfather reached the islands by merchant ship in the 1950s and later urged his father to see what he called “the prettiest islands in the Caribbean”.

Premier Charles Washington Misick called Beaches Turks and Caicos the “marquee property” of the Beaches line and said the expansion reinforces the territory’s place among premium destinations.

“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 the territory deliberately courts wealthy visitors because of high operating costs in tourism.

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

Tourism, he said, still drives the Turks and Caicos economy, contributing an estimated 70 to 80 per cent of gross domestic product when direct and indirect activity are counted.

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

The village sits within Beaches Turks and Caicos, which has grown from a 150-room hotel in 1995 into one of the Caribbean’s best-known family all-inclusive resorts.