Caribbean L 14 ife, Jan. 25–31, 2019
CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
regional grouping.
Trinidad
Sandals Resorts International has
blamed “negative publicity”
and “consistent
badgering” as the reasons
why the company
is no longer interested
in building a hotel at Buccoo in Tobago
(the sister isle of Trinidad) at this
time, but will go where they are more
appreciated.
The Trinidad and Tobago government
had a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to build a
luxury hotel with the brand name
Sandals, which would have managed
it — but nothing had been
finalized as yet.
This was revealed by Sandals CEO,
Gebhard Rainer at a news conference
last week hosted by Minister of Communications,
Stuart Young at the
Office of the Prime Minister, St. Clair,
Port of Spain. Rainer announced the
withdrawal as “unfortunate.”
He said the reason is constant and
ongoing negative publicity and media
coverage “we received over the last
two and a half years since the inception
of the project.”
“It is taking on a dynamic we are
not willing to carry on any longer,”
he added.
Rainer said the integrity of Sandals
benefits its host communities.
He claimed that negative reporting
in Trinidad and Tobago had failed to
say how Sandals had benefitted other
Caribbean islands by boosting local
agriculture, transport, taxes and
local hotels, had a part to play.
Young thanked Sandals and vowed
to continue to seek new opportunities
for Tobago.
— Compiled by Azad Ali
Continued from Page 4
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