Mr. James Peters, after spending several months in the Virgin Islands region in 1917, returned with rather unfortunate news of the bank. He reported the fauna was, sadly, “depleted and fast disappearing” . Schwartz and Henderson in 1975 were of the hope that the future survival of the West Indian Herpetofauna was brighter than it indicated at the time . Powell & Henderson highlighted the plight of the West Indian herpetofauna in 2008 . Daudin & De Silva (2011) remarked, “The general situation is so desperate that even the most deliberate conservation efforts will probably amount to salvage operations” .
“If we continue down that path”, has become, “Because we continued down that path.” A decade later it appears we are reaching the point of no return. The billions of dollars flooding into the Caribbean for myriad purposes are paving it end-to-end. Surely not, you say? Well, let’s take a trip down memory deforestation lane, shall we?
The Grenada Bank in the last decade:
Two entire islands have been recently sold for hotel resorts and four others (Petit Nevis, Balliceaux, Isle de Ronde, and Isle de Caille) are now for sale. Most of Canouan, for example, is a mere 0.6 km wide, yet it supports an eighteen-hole golf course, a casino, a 200-room resort, and a soon-to-be-extended 1,900 meter jetport runway. Land in the Grenadines is high-priced real estate, so almost all of the remaining public “crown” land on Bequia is being sold to finance the purchase of land for the construction of an international airport on mainland St. Vincent. The large mangrove lagoon at Ashton in Union Island, which was once inundated for construction of a marina and resort, was stopped, but is again being prepared for development. Up-to-date statistics are hard to acquire, but cruise ship passengers on Mayreau (pop. 280) alone, amounted to about 40,000 last season, and the resident Grenadine population has about doubled in the past ten years. These increases place a tremendous burden on the remaining available land .
Legislation is already in place, but public awareness and enforcement are sadly lacking. Under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1987, for example, snakes receive “total protection”. Protected areas and Grenadine “reserves” also exist, but they are simply part of the paper legacy left by past colonial powers that present-day cash-strapped governments reverse with a simple parliamentary decision. If the Saint Vincent government could attempt to hand over the control and management of the only national marine park in this region to Palm Island Resorts, Ltd., then the Grenada government can also justify an attempt to sell one of their few national parks to the Four Seasons Hotel chain .
Grenada:
Silversands, a member of Leading Hotels of the World, will debut in March with 43 suites and nine villas overlooking Grand Anse Beach, the first big hotel project on that beach in more than 25 years. Resort highlights include a 300-foot-long swimming pool, a beach club and two restaurants.
The 146-key cliffside Kimpton Kawana Bay Resort is targeted to open in early 2019, also on Grand Anse Beach.
Saint Vincent:
St Vincent Getting $5 Million Loan From Taiwan to Complete International Airport. St Vincent and the Grenadines is getting some additional help to fund the construction of its long-awaited international airport. The country is securing a loan of $5 million from the government of Taiwan to “assist in the financing of the construction of the Argyle International Airport,” according to a statement. The project, when completed, will allow larger passenger jets to fly into the country for the first time. St Vincent’s existing airport, ET Joshua, can only receive regional flights from neighbouring islands. In a presentation on the loan, St Vincent and the Grenadines Foreign Minister Camillo Gonsalves said the international airport was a “basic requirement for the development of a modern society.” Story here.
Virgin Islands:
Mandahl Bay Holdings have signed an agreement to develop “Port of Mandahl,” a $487 million resort community on the northern side of the island. According to the government, Mandahl Bay Holdings will begin with a $209 million construction investment in the first phase of the project. The project is also slated to include a 50-slip marina, private estates and marina townhouses and 48,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, all in phase one. The second phase will include improvements to Mahogany Run Golf Course and a new 30,000-square-foot convention facility.
The Virgin Islands Port Authority will start spending the $27 million received last year as a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce-Economic Development Administration to begin construction on the Cyril E. King and Henry E. Rohlsen airports. Construction is expected to begin in April at both terminals and Cartwright said it is estimated the last construction phases will be completed in six to eight years.
Jamaica in the last decade:
From 2013–2016, the Government of Jamaica had been negotiating with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) to establish a large transshipment port in the Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA) in the vicinity of the Goat Islands.
Work on the first stage of the Jamaica Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project kicked off on November 16 and will extend into 2020. Initial investment reached US $195 Million and works are being executed by China Harbour Engineering. According to the government, the plan entails the rehabilitation of about 110 km of road between Harbour View in St. Andrew and Port Antonio in Portland and will also extend 526 km from Morant Bay to Cedar Valley in St. Thomas.
Jamaica’s hotel development boom is set to continue with plans for 3,000 new rooms in the parish of St Ann. The government of Jamaica said it had finalized the sale of land in the area of Salem, St Ann, paving the way for hotel developers from Karisma to begin construction plans on a major new 3,000-room, multi-phase hotel project. Regional travel giant Karisma Hotels and Resorts will be building the project in several phases, beginning with 700 later this year, according to Jamaica tourism officials. The Karisma project was officially announced at the recent JAPEX Jamaica tourism exchange event in Montego Bay, the island’s largest tourism sector conference. The long-awaited project could see the development of as many as 5,000 new hotel rooms for its proposed “Sugarcane Project.” The project could mean as much as $1 Billion in new hotel investment in Jamaica.
A Chinese company spent $700 million building a badly needed highway connecting Jamaica’s north and south coasts. To pay for it, the Jamaican government granted China Harbour Engineering Company a 50-year lease on roughly 1,200 acres of prime real estate alongside the highway to do with as they please, according to a 2017 article in the Jamaica Observer, a local newspaper.
Jamaica’s proposed Celebration Jamaica project, a 2,000-room entertainment complex at Rose Hall in Montego Bay with several hotels and a casino, has been on the books since Jamaica passed legislation in 2010 to develop a casino market. Celebration and Harmony Cove Ltd. were approved to begin developing casino resorts, with the requirement that the developers build at least 2,000 rooms in phases. Timelines for both are delayed due to some financial snags.
The Jewel Grande Montego Bay Resort & Spa on Jamaica’s north coast, on the site of the former Palmyra Resort and Spa, opened last fall with 217 suites in three beachfront towers and 11 villas.
Twelve overwater bungalows debuted in December on a heart-shaped pier at Sandals South Coast (formerly Sandals Whitehouse).
Karisma’s Azul Beach Sensitori opened in June in Negril, a 149-room expansion of Karisma Sensitori.
The 407-suite, all-ages Royalton Negril and the adjacent 166-suite adults-only Hideaway Royalton Negril opened in 2017.
The adults-only 150-room Breathless Montego Bay opened last winter. Guests have access to the amenities of the nearby Secrets St. James and Secrets Wild Orchid.
The 146-room Royal Decameron Cornwall Beach in Montego Bay opened its doors last winter as well, joining two other Decameron properties in Montego Bay and St. Ann. Trelawny developments driving turtles to extinction: see the story here.
Dominican Republic in the last few years:
The Caribbean country with the most infrastructure projects planned for 2020, the government of the Dominican Republic recently opened a second stretch of the Juan Bosch beltway. The 16 km stretch, also called 2B, now links kilometer 23 of Duarte highway with Juan Pablo II highway, and a last-minute investment adjustment had the complete price tag at nearly US $164 M.
Two other major projects, the government hopes, will start operations next year.
One is the expansion of the Caucedo multimodal port, also referred to as DP World Caucedo port expansion. It began in January 2019 and should be completed by spring 2020.
Port operator DP World Caucedo invested US $1 Billion and was granted the concession of the multimodal port. The expansion will add 400 meters to the port’s facility and increase port depth to 5.5 meters, according to the operator.
Planning for the second project began on January 15, daily El Caribe reported. It involves a new cruise terminal for US $125 Million at Puerto Plata in San Felipe municipality.
At a press conference earlier this month, representatives of the tourism ministry, port authority and the consortium that was awarded the concession to operate the port – Puerto Plata Port Investment – said the harbor could start receiving cruises and tourists in November 2020.
According to consortium representatives, the port will receive about 650,000 tourists and 150 ships in 2021.
The hotel product in the Dominican Republic is hot, with more than 3,274 rooms under contract, several of which are in Punta Cana. That includes Karisma Hotels & Resorts’ $300 Million project for the Dorado Resort and Sensimar Resort hotels in the Cap Cana area, with 250 rooms each.
In addition, the first Margaritaville All-Inclusive Experience by Karisma resort in Punta Cana is slated to begin construction in 2018.
Palace Resorts has announced plans to open its first resort in Punta Cana, although no timeline has been given.
Also planned for Punta Cana is the 1,020 Lopesan Costa Bavaro, opening in May 2019, adjacent to the 650-room IFA Villas Bavaro.
The 730-room Royalton Bavaro opened on Jan. 1.
Iberostar is building 3,000 more hotel rooms in two hotels, one in Punta Cana and the second in Santo Domingo, while H10 Hotels broke ground in November in Uvero Alto, the northernmost beach area of Punta Cana, for a 909-room hotel, opening in November.
The adults-only 1,007-room Riu Republica in Punta Cana, which opened in 2016, recently added a 501-room wing and Splash Water World. The new wing includes four restaurants, a jerk grill on the beach, three bars and three pools. Riu has four other resorts in Punta Cana that feature a water park.
The adults-only Hideaway at the Royalton Punta Cana opened in November.
Trinidad and Tobago:
Building a central tower block at Port of Spain General Hospital is a key 2020 infrastructure project for the island. Work started this year and will be completed in January, finance minister Colm Imbert said in October while announcing a US $6 Billion package for the health sector.
The project is being developed by Shanghai Construction Group, which also helped complete the Couva children’s hospital and a multi-training facility.
Based on an Inter-American Dialogue study, Trinidad & Tobago received US $2.6 Billion in Chinese financing from 2005 to 2018.
The hospital was structurally damaged by an earthquake last year and the Chinese group is helping with rebuilding.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Caribbean:
Anguilla:
The nine-suite Quintessence Boutique Resort opened Jan. 1 as Anguilla’s first new build since the Reef came on the scene in 2016 (the Reef, meanwhile, will reopen sometime later this year following hurricane repairs).
St. Kitts:
The Park Hyatt St. Kitts, the brand’s first venture in the Caribbean, debuted on Nov. 1 on Banana Bay in Christophe Harbor with 48 suites and 78 rooms.
Ritz-Carlton signs for new property in St. Kitts. The Ritz-Carlton resort, which will include 125 suites plus 25 branded villas and residences, will be located on the picturesque Southeast Peninsula of the island facing the Caribbean Sea. Story here.
St. Lucia:
The all-inclusive 36-suite Serenity at Coconut Bay opened in October on St. Lucia’s south coast, five minutes from Hewannora Airport — a big bonus for those who dread the two-hour, winding drive to resorts further up the west coast.
Saint Lucia will soon begin work on its transformation of Hewanorra International Airport. Work will begin in the coming weeks; the $175 million project officially broke ground over the winter.
Sandals Grande St. Lucian unveiled nine new over water honeymoon butler bungalows, while sister property Sandals Halycon Beach opened its beachfront crystal lagoon suites, each with swim-up access from the main pool.
The Pitons are under assault from a foreign developer. Most of the property sold was within the area classified by the World Heritage site. Sale was approved by the Finance Minister.
A golf course that is being built on St. Lucia by the same people behind Cape Breton’s famed Cabot Links is threatening Indigenous graves that are up to 1,000 years old.
The Ritz-Carlton, St. Lucia To Open In 2021. This development comes as the hotel company recently signed a management agreement with Range Developments, an investment and hospitality company that operates across the eastern Caribbean. This agreement marks the first Ritz-Carlton property in the eastern Caribbean. It will have 180 rooms and will be located on the southwest coast, near the Pitons. There will be ample meeting and group space both indoors and outdoors, multiple dining facilities all with outdoor seating, a spa that includes an outdoor treatment area, and several swimming pools.
Marriott International has announced a significant expansion of its all-inclusive portfolio through a long-term agreement with Sunwing Travel Group’s hotel division, Blue Diamond Resorts. The latter has an extensive portfolio of resort properties throughout the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico. The agreement is expected to propel Marriott into the list of top ten global all-inclusive players by adding 19 franchised resorts totalling nearly 7,000 rooms across six destinations. Marriott said the move would double its presence in the all-inclusive segment to 33 properties by 2025. The majority of the properties are expected to be converted into Marriott’s Autograph Collection by mid-2021.
“We are thrilled to work with Sunwing Travel Group and expand into two new leisure destinations – St. Lucia and Antigua,” said Tony Capuano, group president, global development, design and operations services, Marriott International. Story here.
Barbados:
The 222-suite Sandals Royal Barbados, adjacent to the 280-room Sandals Barbados, welcomed its first guests on Dec. 20.
The adults-only Treasure Beach reopened in December as a member of Elegant Hotels & Resorts (Elegant’s ninth property, Hodges Bay Resort, will open on Antigua’s north coast later this year.)
The 252-room Crane Resort and Beach Houses completed phase one of the Crane Private Residences, a gated residential community within the resort.
When completed in early 2019, the project will include five residences, which will be available to resort guests when not owner-occupied.
Antigua:
The all-inclusive Curtain Bluff completed a US $13 Million re-do following a six-month closure and welcomed its guests back last fall. The 72-room and suite resort on the south coast “has a new updated, elegant look, but its charm remains the same,” according to Rob Sherman, managing director.
The Sandals Grande Antigua reopened in December, following a three-month closure to refresh and update.
The Airport in Antigua built with borrowed money has been under performing and not making anything near the profits the nation was told it would; the Moratorium period is fast approaching which is going to put the government in financial difficulties to make payments. What else will Antigua have to give up in repayment?
Plans to construct a sprawling 2000 acre “Chinese colony” complete with factories, homes and holiday resorts across a pristine marine reserve in Antigua have ignited a storm of controversy on the Caribbean island. The agreement was signed in 2015. The master plan includes up to seven resorts, a shipping port, the country’s first four-lane highway, offshore “wealth management” centres, hospital and university facilities, a school, bank and a luxury golf community on adjacent uninhabited Guiana Island. The 400-acre industrial section includes steel and ceramic tile factories. And, as an added bonus: Anyone investing more than $400,000 will be eligible for Antiguan citizenship.
Rosewood Half Moon Bay Antigua penciled in for 2021 opening. The property will open in 2021 in the Caribbean’s West Indies. The resort will be situated on 132 spectacular oceanfront acres along Half Moon Bay, which is internationally lauded as one of the world’s most spectacular beaches. Story here.
Marriott International has announced a significant expansion of its all-inclusive portfolio through a long-term agreement with Sunwing Travel Group’s hotel division, Blue Diamond Resorts. The latter has an extensive portfolio of resort properties throughout the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico. The agreement is expected to propel Marriott into the list of top ten global all-inclusive players by adding 19 franchised resorts totalling nearly 7,000 rooms across six destinations. Marriott said the move would double its presence in the all-inclusive segment to 33 properties by 2025. The majority of the properties are expected to be converted into Marriott’s Autograph Collection by mid-2021.
“We are thrilled to work with Sunwing Travel Group and expand into two new leisure destinations – St. Lucia and Antigua,” said Tony Capuano, group president, global development, design and operations services, Marriott International. Story here.
Turks & Caicos:
Beaches Turks & Caicos welcomed guests in mid-December, following a closure since September due to hurricane damage.
The Shore Club, which opened on Long Bay in 2017, unveiled three oceanfront villas on Jan. 1. Each of the six-bedroom villas has a heated pool, terraces, an elevator for service providers, a butler and a private chef. Villa guests have access to all the facilities at the Shore Club.
Sailrock Resort on South Caicos reopened last month following hurricane repairs. New to the resort is the Cove Restaurant & Beach Bar. Guests can now book one- and two-bedroom beachfront villas in addition to the three- and four-bedroom options that have been available since Sailrock opened last January. All villas have private pools and oversized terraces overlooking the Atlantic.
Club Med Turkoise in Providenciales is on target for a Jan. 31 reopening, after repairing damage from the hurricanes.
The Bahamas:
The Riu Paradise Island reopened last summer as an adults-only resort with 379 revamped rooms, four bars, 24-hour room service and a buffet restaurant serving three meals a day.
The state-owned China Export-Import Bank provided $2.5 billion to build the Baha Mar resort and casino — the largest such complex in the Caribbean.
The 299-room SLS Baha Mar, one of three hotels in Nassau’s US $4.2 Billion Baha Mar resort, opened on Nov. 17. Baha Mar already includes parent company SBE food-and-beverage outlets Cleo, Katsuya and Monkey Bar; the Bond nightclub and Skybar lounge opened in December; the Skybar lounge is set to open later this year. The 1,800-room Grand Hyatt Baha Mar opened in May, and a 280-room Rosewood hotel is due to open this spring.
Baha Mar contractor China Construction America has returned to the major project’s construction site, the development’s joint liquidators confirmed this week. The company has “returned to the site for analysis and assessment of the work necessary to complete the project,” according to the statement from liquidators KRyS Global (Bahamas) and AlixPartners. Story here.
Bahamas Looks to Tap Charter Yacht Market. The Bahamas is looking to tap into the increasingly popular charter yacht market, as demand for the industry continues to grow.
Accordingly, the destination held a special Bahamas Charter Yacht Show in West Palm Beach this week. The two-day, charter broker-only show was organized by the Association of Bahamas Marinas in partnership with the country’s Ministry of Tourism and the International Yacht Berokres Association. More than 80 of the top charter brokers who book charters to The Bahamas attended, along with yachts ranging in size from 78 to 213 feet. Story here.
Three (3) private islands in the Bahamas sold. Story here.
Banyan Tree signs for first Bahamas property. Island Developers and Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts have announced a partnership introducing the Banyan Tree’s first property in the Bahamas. Located just 48 nautical miles and a 20-minute seaplane ride from Miami, Banyan Tree illa Bahamas is set on 40 acres of pristine Atlantic oceanfront and Bimini bayfront properties. Story here.
Abaco Islands:
What started as an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 2004 became a 609.6 acre Private Club with golf course and marina. The property consisted of Great Guana Cay, 4 surrounding islands and 56 acres of Conservation area/Preserve. The Bay Club consists of approximately 400-450 residential units; these units will be a mixture of ocean- front home sites, golf villas and marina village homes, a championship-caliber 18-hole golf course, a 240-slip marina, up to 75 villa-style rooms available for rental, and a high-amenitized equity club with 400 members.
Cayman Islands:
The Margaritaville Beach Resort Grand Cayman, which opened last fall, occupies a stretch of Seven Mile Beach. Its License to Chill Bar serves handcrafted cocktails including, of course, the resort’s signature margarita.
Cayman’s Treasure Island Resort Sold; Margaritaville Resort Planned. In a potentially significant deal, Howard Hospitality Group has announced the acquisition of Grand Cayman’s Treasure Island resort. HHG said it had already begun planning a major redesign and renovation of the property in partnership with Margaritavilla Holdings to convert the hotel into a Margaritaville Beach Resort. The company purchased 100 percent of the property from ScotiaBank, it told Caribbean Journal. The company told Caribbean Journal the plan is to create a new kind of family-friendly, entertaining property in Grand Cayman.
Story here.
Hilton has signed an agreement with NCB Group for a new Curio Collection property in the Cayman Islands. Situated on the edge of George Town, the beachfront hotel boasts 80 suites with spacious floorplans ranging from one to three bedrooms, which will also be available for purchase. Story here.
Mandarin Oriental, Grand Cayman will be an exclusive 100-room beachfront resort with 89 branded Residences at Mandarin Oriental. Located 15 minutes from the airport, the resort will be situated on 67 acres at St. James Point, on the southern shore of the island. Story here.
Barbuda:
New airport construction abandoned after deforestation takes place. Watch the video here.
To summarize all that deforestation and concrete:
The “Build it and they will come” philosophic model to which the Caribbean leadership has subscribed to, coupled with crippling national debt, has put the entire region in an extremely vulnerable position. The herpetofauna is in an identical position even though, mutatis mutandis, most of it is protected on paper throughout the region.
The Caribbean is the biggest source of business for the global cruise industry, which is notoriously callous when it comes to the environment. Tourism and, by extension, the income derived from it are the driving force behind all the rampant habitat destruction in the West Indies. Between Tourism’s endless supply of money and developers’ attempts at keeping pace with the influx of tourists, it’s obvious who the Winners and Losers are.
Perhaps an island hopping traveler said it best:
"When we returned to the island a few years later we found newly paved roads, traffic jams, and a new mood — the hum and honk of progress drowning out the hummingbirds and the cackle of the national bird, the Cocrico, at dawn."
The sounds of progress-how times have changed.
Citations
Caribbean Islands becoming hot spots for Chinese investment (click here)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/20/antigua-yida-project-chinese-colony-controversy