TCI News
Nearly 300 people sent home today as Turks and Caicos Collection closes indefinitely
#Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – August 5, 2020 – At least 250 people were laid off and 13 executives made redundant today at the Turks and Caicos Collection of Resorts as the financial onslaught of the travel and tourism industry by COVID-19, escalates.
Lord Michael Ashcroft, Chairman of Waterloo Investment Holdings Ltd (WIHL), which owns the Collection, is in country and made known the painful decisions, Magnetic Media is told, in a private meeting with top executives. By this afternoon, there came a NOTICE OF LAYOFF which said, in part:
“Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hospitality industry and the continuous fallouts that we experience daily, we have made the decision to lay off employees in an effort to mitigate the loss of business experienced to date.”
Blue Haven and Beach House had closed in the early days of the pandemic’s impact on Turks and Caicos tourism. The Alexandra and Ambergris Cay were reopened on July 22 but guest bookings for the Alexandra were a far cry from what is needed to sustain the all-inclusive operation.
At peak there were 105 guests on property, reflecting a 30 percent occupancy level.
Staff from the Beach House, Blue Haven and the Alexandra were being rotated – an effort which kept staff employed, albeit with a lesser salary.
Employees were today surprised by the announcement which also confirmed an eight week layoff beginning on August 10.
Until there is a significant uptick in tourism, the Alexandra will close to tourists this coming Sunday August 9; most disconcerting is that no reopening date was revealed.
Ambergris Cay, which is a private island, also owned by WIHL has had a different experience largely due to the higher net worth of the multi-million-dollar home owners. Ambergris Cay has its own airstrip, which has been welcoming private jets since tourism reopened in late July.
While interest in Turks and Caicos vacations have been healthy, there are at least two factors which have brought momentum to a crawl: the five-day requirement of a negativeCOVID-19 PCR test by the TCI Assured program and the delay in the reopening of Beaches Resort Villages and Spa.
Turn-around time on COVID-19 tests in the United States (and Caribbean region) are generally falling outside of the 5-day TCI public health requirement.
The Beaches Resort announcement of reopening not until October 14, likely prompted a reduction of flights into Providenciales during August by both Delta and Jet Blue airline companies.
The 13 expatriate executives have all been made redundant and given severance pay as stipulated by law. The same is said of the 250 staff members, who as of August 10 will be furloughed.
Owners of residences at all properties will be allowed to visit, unencumbered.
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.
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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.
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