AS THE CLOSURE of Almond Beach Village draws near, the chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) says Government needs to find a strategy for breathing life into “distressed” properties like the 400-room hotel.
Richard “Ricky” Skerritt said on Wednesday opportunities existed for investment in hotel plants and Government and the private sector had to work together to identify and take advantage of them.
“Without having all the information [about Almond], with the right investment anything is possible. Clearly the owners and the Government must now be talking about ways to reinvest and help to stimulate new opportunities for distressed properties,” he told the WEEKEND NATION yesterday during a break in the 16th annual Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC) at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Convention Centre.
Skerritt, whose comments also follow last week’s closure of the 24-room NewEdgewater Hotel on Barbados’ East Coast, said there was a wider lesson to be learned from the impending closure of Almond Beach Village and other “distressed” hotel properties in Barbados and other parts of the Caribbean.
“There are a number of distressed properties across the region. Almond would not be the only one that would have faced the prospect of going out of business in any particular property. It is an ongoing property issue for several properties across the region and now is the time to be bold and aggressive and see what you can do to keep as many properties in business as possible,” he said.
“Wherever there are distressed hotels – either hotels that were in existence and closed or properties that didn’t get completed in terms of their development – these are all areas which now provide opportunities for investment and revisiting.”
At least three offers are on the table for purchase of Almond Beach Village, Barbados’ largest all-inclusive resort.
Construction magnate Bjorn Bjerkhamn, Jamaican hotelier Gordon “Butch” Stewart and Canadian-born owner of the Crane Resort, Paul Doyle have put in bids to take over the St Peter hotel while Tourism Minister Richard Sealy has indicated that international hotel chain Ritz Carlton has also expressed interest.
Skerritt, who is Minister of Tourism in St Kitts and Nevis, was brought up to date on the Almond situation last week in Trinidad and Tobago at a meeting on airlift attended by his Barbadian counterpart.
He said Almond has been a very important and well respected player in the Caribbean tourism market and it would be a shame to see it closed.
The Neal and Massy-owned property employs 500 workers who are still awaiting formal notice of their termination following the initial April 3 announcement that operations would cease at monthend.
