TCI News
Six race car prizes for Turks and Caicos Motoring Club in Barbados; including fastest BMW
#Providenciales, June 7, 2019 – Turks and Caicos – A Turks and Caicos team came home with six major prizes after participating in what is dubbed the Caribbean’s #1 motor racing event, the Sol Rally Barbados and among the honours earned was fastest BMW in the race awarded to Team TCI by the German luxury car company.
The Hartling Group is typically known for its luxury resorts in Providenciales: The Palms, the Sands at Grace Bay and the new Shore Club but there is an adrenaline pumping reputation for the team, which this year had its best year at the Sol Rally Barbados.
“We are pleased to say that Turks and Caicos really took it over this year, its unbelievable! We had a hundred teams come into this rally from 13 different countries that were represented and to be able to come out of that with the results that we did was honestly overwhelming for us,” explained Stan Hartling amidst a crush of media and Hartling Group resort staffers.
The wins were listed by Mr. Hartling: “We took first place in Modified 3, we took second place in Modified 2, my son Ben took second place in Sunday Cup and we have third place in Modern 1. We had fastest rear wheel drive car in the entire Rally and BMW presented us with the award for being able to have the fastest BMW in the entire race.”
Turks and Caicos is now a well known team and place within Barbados and among rally fans thanks to the showing at the Sol Rally Barbados which marked its 30th year in this 2019 staging of the event.
And the feats of this team were hard won as challenges were not only on the race course, but within the vehicles themselves. Magnetic Media is informed that Stan had to race on a flat tire at a point in his event; Paul had to drive with one hand on the wheel, the other holding the door which had a broken latch for a part of his course and young Sam Hartling in his first showing at the Sol Rally Barbados sped his way from 91st place to taking over half the field ahead to complete his debut on the motoring scene.
Some sponsors of the team were on hand for the rousing return home on Tuesday at the Providenciales International Airport; named were Bambarra, Arbike Vodka, Java Island, Horizon Construction, Hartling Group Resorts and Grace Bay Car Rentals
“What an incredible year, this is our tenth season and we had five rally cars registered and all five cars finished; so not only did we class first, second, third, fourth and fifth in finishing, we classed overall…” said Carmela Giardano-Horton who added, “this group right here is extended family and we have such a presence over there and we just hope that one day we can bring rally to Turks and Caicos.”
A must do pit stop for the team, broadening the membership of the Turks and Caicos Motoring Club to the youth of the TCI; talks are already ongoing with the Department of Sports.
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Almost two million visitors recorded in 2025
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS – The Turks and Caicos Islands saw an increase in stayover arrivals in December, seven percent higher than the corresponding period in 2024.
Preliminary data suggests that stay over arrivals by air for the month of December was 66,427 in comparison to 62,610 in December 2024.
From January to December 2025, preliminary visitor arrival numbers totalled 640,754; on par with the number recorded for the same period of 2024.
Stay Over Arrivals YTD December 2024/2025
The first quarter of the calendar year attracted the largest number of arrivals with visitor arrivals three percent higher than the first quarter of 2024. Reduced airlift from the United Kingdom and the United States, most notably the Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue services, was however felt from the second quarter (April to June). As a result, visitor arrivals dropped three percent in the second quarter.
By the third quarter of this year (July to September), geopolitical and economic conditions in the key source markets, namely the United States, led to further contraction of arrivals. In the last quarter of 2025, arrivals were impacted in October due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa but additional airlift from the USA and Canada resulted in an increase in arrivals in November and December.
Mr. Paul Pennicook, Interim CEO Consultant of Experience Turks and Caicos, said December’s increase in stayover arrivals is an encouraging indicator of the sustained interest in the Turks and Caicos Islands as a premier destination.
“While we note and continue to monitor geopolitical shifts that affect us, Experience Turks and Caicos is focused on increasing marketing initiatives in our primary source markets. We have spent the last two years investing in groundwork such as crucial travel advisor training to assist them in selling the destination more effectively. In the next fiscal, we will be building on those initiatives with co-op activities with partners as well as out of home advertising to increase visitation to our destination,” he said.
In Cruise, the preliminary count of passenger arrivals for the month of December 2025 was 129,346, a 22 percent increase over last December. This growth follows the berthing of 11 additional ships in Grand Turk this month.
From January to December, the cruise sector continued to outperform the same period last year, as the 1.3 million total cruise passengers recorded, marks a five percent Year-on-Year increase. 
The cruise sector experienced significant growth in the first quarter of 2025, with passenger arrivals surpassing last quarter by 53 percent. In the second and third quarter however, several cruise lines adjusted their itineraries as vessels were pulled from the fleet or from the Caribbean region, which resulted in fewer passengers.
Arrivals dropped seven percent and 10 percent in the second and third quarters, respectively. Double digit growth was recorded in the last two months of Quarter 4. This growth however, was not sufficient to outweigh the drop in arrivals experienced in October, following the cancellation of cruise calls due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Despite the late-quarter rebound, arrivals for the final quarter of 2025 closed six percent below the same period in 2024.
News
The Department of Trade, Industry & Fair Competition to Host Export Readiness Workshop Under the theme “Empowering TCI Businesses for Local Growth and Global Markets.”
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – Wednesday, 11 February 2026: The Informal Settlements Unit (ISU) coordinated a multi-agency enforcement operation on Thursday, 29 January 2026, led by the Planning Department, with support from the Crown Land
Unit, the Turks and Caicos Islands Border Force, and security provided by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force. The operation, carried out at three different locations in Providenciales, formed part of ongoing government efforts to address unauthorised development and illegal occupation of land in accordance with governing legislation.
The operation commenced in Blue Hills, where five Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on unauthorised structures identified on Block and Parcel 60502/48.
Enforcement activity then moved to a second location off the Leeward Highway near Caicos Lodge, where six Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on additional unauthorised structures on Block and Parcel 60802/66.
The final phase of the operation took place in The Bight, where three unauthorised structures were removed, with all debris cleared from the site in keeping with established safety and environmental protocols.
The Informal Settlements Unit remains committed to working alongside its partner agencies to support lawful development, protect public and private land, and ensure that planning regulations are enforced in a coordinated and transparent manner across the Turks and Caicos Islands. Similar joint operations will continue as part of the Government’s wider strategy to address unauthorised development and informal settlement activity.
