Caribbean News

AIRLINE EXECUTIVE LAUDS SANDALS RESORTS INVESTMENT IN CARIBBEAN TOURISM

Published

1 month ago

May 30, 2024

…commends resort company for continuing to open new destinations

May 30, 2024, Montego Bay, Jamaica – Chief Executive Officer of Inter-Caribbean Airlines Trevor Sadler has praised Sandals Resorts for its commitment to the growth and development of regional tourism, as it continues to open new resorts creating employment and generating economic activity for islands all over the Caribbean.

Sadler was in attendance at the recent Sandals Travel Advisor Recognition (STAR) Awards held at the newly opened Sandals St. Vincent and the Grenadines resort. The event, which is held by Sandals to recognise its top producing travel advisors from all over the world, also brought hundreds of travel advisors to the islands, many for the very first time.

The Inter-Caribbean Airlines boss said the drive to invest in new territories and to promote the destinations themselves, underlies not only the power and stability of the brand, but the belief the company has in the potential of the Caribbean. Sadler added that his own airline has benefited from the Sandals Effect, recalling when the company took its Beaches brand to the Turks and Caicos Islands some 27 years ago, “that by itself drove a lot of tourism, but it also drove economic activity, the need for more employees, and for Inter-Caribbean it was one of those early developments of connecting the Turks and Caicos particularly with Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and other islands that set us on the path of growth.”

In fact during those early years Sadler said Sandals Founder the late Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart would often offer words of encouragement to his own Chairman and Founder Lyndon Gardiner, “Mr. Stewart would stop in and he would say hello to Lyndon, he would always give him some counsel, some guidance, and ‘Butch’ Stewart became really a mentor for Lyndon. He guided Lyndon and helped him think about developing the business, so we as a company, have to say thanks to Butch Stewart.”

Sadler said he was pleased to see Sandals continuing to take a leading role in Caribbean tourism under its new Executive Chairman Adam Stewart, “here is Adam following in the footsteps of his father and the legacy that was created by him. His father’s relationship with and advice allowed my own chairman (Lyndon Gardiner) to build Inter-Caribbean Airlines and to overcome the obstacles that were in front of him allowing us to achieve what we have now become today as an airline. We are by no means done, but certainly that support has helped Inter-Caribbean to become one of the best recognised airline brands across the Caribbean.”

Sadler also supported the position of the Sandals Executive Chairman that the Caribbean must be united as a destination and promote itself as such, because together it has so much more to offer visitors. He said Inter-Caribbean stands ready to help connect destinations, allowing brands like Sandals to sell multi-destination holidays, “an island may have a different name, but it’s not multiple hours on an airplane to get there, it may be one hour or two hours away for the most. Visitors can do it, because they won’t be giving away a day of their vacation, just a couple hours to get to a whole new destination, and you begin this new experience. People take on board this whole new realisation that because we change the name of the country doesn’t mean it take hours and hours to get there.”

Sadler also underscored the importance of events like the STAR Awards, “The US is a key source market for us as an airline, as well as Sandals, so having the opportunity to speak to the top roughly 400 travel agents of the US, Canada and the UK is not a value you can put a number on.”

Sadler further surprised attending travel advisors by giving away two tickets to each of them to destinations where Inter-Caribbean flies.

Captions – From L to R: Inter-Caribbean Airlines CEO Trevor Sadler speaks with Gary Sadler, Executive VP of Sales and Industry Relations at Unique Vacations Inc., an affiliate of the worldwide representatives of Sandals and Beaches Resorts

Bahamas News

Ready or Not, African and Caribbean Artists set the stage on Fire at AfreximFest in Nassau

Published

6 days ago

June 25, 2024

Deandrea Hamilton

Danae Dennie and Deandrea Hamilton

Editorial Staff

#TheBahamas, June 25, 2024 – ‘Ready or Not’ AfreximFest is sizzling finale, capping of concert spectacular with Haitian superstar, Wyclef Jean.

This year, AFREXIMFEST 2024 was held for the first time in the Caribbean region, The Bahamas hosting the three days of meeting in Nassau at the Baha Mar resort.

It is a rich tradition for the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to celebrate the rich cultural contributions throughout the various industries and the orange economy is a major highlight.

The concert was MC’d by Nigerian radio personality and television presenter IK Osakioduwa and featured artists from The Bahamas, the continent of Africa and Trinidad and Tobago.

Nigerian Artiste, Flavour brought spunky afro beats, Fanshawn delivered on the down home Bahamian rake n scrape sound with impeccable showmanship; Oudun drummers from Brazil were a pulsating show stopper and Trinidad and Tobago’s KES the Band thrilled the audience with performances of its wildly popular soca hits including ‘Savanah Grass’.

Making a dramatic entrance with his Fugees hit, ‘Ready or Not’ was Grammy Award winning Wyclef Jean. The Haitian rapper, singer, producer and songwriter, set the audience in a frenzy with his rendition of Fugees version of the Roberta Flack remake of ‘Killing me Softly’; Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’ and hits he authored for Carlos Santana and Shakira, namely: ‘Maria Maria’ and ‘Hips don’t Lie’. However, it was arguably, ‘911’ his chart topping duet with Mary J. Blige that set the audience ablaze, joining in singing of the song as he wowed onlookers with his salacious guitar solo which showed off Wyclef’s enviable skills on the instrument.

The event and its amazing line up of singers, dancers, comedians and master DJs forged further, the message of solidarity and partnership which became recurring pitch phrases at the meetings. Music proved an ultimate unifier yet again, as AAM2024 wrapped up with stellar reviews from those who packed the concert hall.

Caribbean News

Children in Crisis: WFP Steps In to Aid Haiti Amidst Growing Hardship

Published

6 days ago

June 25, 2024

Deandrea Hamilton

Danae Dennie

Staff Writer

#Haiti, June 25, 2024 – UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said that the alarm is still being sounded on the deteriorating situation in Haiti’s southern regions, as hundreds of thousands of people are now displaced.

According to the International Organization for Migration, between March and June this year, the number of people displaced across the country increased by 60 per cent, from 362,000 to more than 578,000 people.

It highlighted that more than half of all people uprooted from their homes are children.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs shared that aid organizations continue to support people displaced by violence in the capital, Port-au-Prince. As of June 12 2024, the World Food Programme (WFP) distributed more than 40,000 hot meals to over 9,000 displaced people in Port-au-Prince.

On June 7, 2024, a cargo flight operated by the WFP landed in Cap-Haïtien, carrying more than 11 metric tonnes of products for water, hygiene and sanitation activities, as well as educational materials for the organization ‘Save the Children’.

“Hundreds of thousands of children and their families live in some of the most dangerous and besieged communes ……. A shocking 2 in 3 children need humanitarian aid in Haiti,” says Catherine Russell, Principal Advocate for Haiti for the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, and UNICEF Executive Director.

“Each day, children are being injured or killed. Some are being recruited, or they are joining armed groups out of sheer desperation,” said Russell at the UN Security Council meeting in April.

“Recent UNICEF data indicates that anywhere from 30to 50 percent of armed groups in Haiti currently have children within their ranks,” she added.

The Secretary-General has called for the swift deployment of the Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti to support the Haitian National Police in addressing the security situation. He appealed to Member States to ensure the MSS mission urgently receives the financial and logistical support it needs to succeed.

Troops from Kenya, who will lead the multinational security mission began arriving in Haiti on Tuesday, June 25.

CAPTION:

KEYANS BEGIN LANDING IN HAITI – Tuesday June 25, saw the arrival of the first of 1,000 members of a Kenyan Forces deployment to lead the uprooting of gangs which have dangerously planted themselves in Port au Prince, the capital of the Republic of Haiti. Training in Jamaica has been underway for weeks now, as CARICOM is also partnered with the US and Canada on the UN Security Council sanctioned mission announced for activation in July 2024.

Caribbean News

Ocho Rios to be Redeveloped

Published

6 days ago

June 25, 2024

Deandrea Hamilton

#MontegoBay, June 25, 2024 – Prime Minister the Most Hon. Andrew Holness has informed that the government is looking to redevelop the town of Ocho Rios in St. Ann, to accommodate its rapid growth.

“In terms of the size of the investment we are looking to make, it’s in the billions of dollars. So, it is a huge investment, and the reason for that is because the entire town of Ocho Rios is being looked at for redevelopment,” Mr. Holness said.

“I know you [the citizens] see that your town is growing, a lot of people are coming into your town, a lot of housing developments are going on around the town, and just outside of the town, we see some other areas developing as well,” he added.

Mr. Holness further stated that “the infrastructure that is here cannot carry all the activities that you have, so we are going to have to do some really serious investments, and the first investment that we need to make in improving your town, is improving the market”.

The Prime Minister was addressing vendors and other stakeholders during a tour of the Ocho Rios market on Friday (June 21).

Mr. Holness said the plans to upgrade the market and transportation centre, will be put into effect in short order.

“For the last five years, we have been refining a plan which will see the upgrade of the market [and] the upgrade of transportation centre and not just the clothes and the food [market], but we also have to do something for the craft markets,” he outlined.

“My tour here is to see the actual physical conditions on the ground, so that I can reconcile what we have on paper, versus what actually exists,” Mr. Holness added.

The Prime Minister assured stakeholders that they will start to see significant changes soon.

“We have a comprehensive plan which we are going to start to put into effect very shortly to do some simple things, first to improve the sanitary facilities in this market, and then to improve some of the street areas to create exclusive pedestrian zones,” he informed.

The tour of the market formed part of a working visit to the parish by Mr. Holness, which included a tour of a new classroom block being constructed at Exchange- All – Age School and a tour of the Ocho Rios Pier to examine recent damage.

He also visited Pimento Walk Road to look at road work in the area and toured Little Dunn’s River.

Accompanying the Prime Minister on the tour were Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda; Mayor of St. Ann’s Bay, Councillor Michael Belnavis; Deputy Mayor of St. Ann’s Bay, Councillor Dallas Dickenson and Senior Strategist and Advisor in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright.

Contact: Serena Grant

Release: JIS