Caribbean Travel News: The Bahamas

NASSAU, Bahamas -- A Bahamian hotel operator has closed one of his resort properties as the recession slashes occupancy rates across the vast archipelago.

The 50-room Royal Palm Resort & Suites was closed in early November by hotelier Mario Donato, and guests with reservations were moved to the Xanadu Beach Resort&Marina on Grand Bahama Island, which Donato also owns, according to Xanadu spokeswoman Tiffany Anderson.

The closure comes as tourism struggles in the region.

Earlier this year, the Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma in the Bahamas and the Nikki Beach Resort&Spa in Turks and Caicos both closed down.

Couple this with the news of new rooms opening up in Martinique! Obviously projects that were under way as the crisis started. As the article mentions, "Martinique's visitor numbers totaled 280,000 through July, a 7% drop over the same period in 2008." 7% is a huge number when talking about statistics like travel that have probably only moved in one direction for the last 50 or 60 years.

Posted on November 17, 2009 5:10 AM | Link: Royal Palm Resort & Suites closed | Comments (0)

OUR LUCAYA RESORT LAUNCHES NEW WEB SITE AND ONLINE PRESS ROOM

GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND, The Bahamas (October 20, 2008) - The Our Lucaya Resort on Grand Bahama Island, which includes both The Westin and Sheraton Our Lucaya properties, announces the launch of its new and improved Web site (http://www.ourlucaya.com) and online press room (http://press.ourlucaya.com).

The new site serves as a vibrant resource for prospective visitors, travel agents and meeting planners. With just a few clicks of a mouse, users can easily navigate the site's expanded features and newly tailored functions, including a user-friendlier format and vibrant, colorful photography.

Continue reading "OUR LUCAYA RESORT LAUNCHES NEW WEB SITE AND ONLINE PRESS ROOM" »

Posted on October 27, 2008 9:46 AM | Link: OUR LUCAYA RESORT LAUNCHES NEW WEB SITE AND ONLINE PRESS ROOM | Comments (0)

FREE GREENS FEES FOR MEETING ATTENDEES AT GRAND BAHAMA'S OUR LUCAYA RESORT

GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND, The Bahamas (October 6, 2008) - The Our Lucaya Resort on Grand Bahama Island, which includes both The Westin and Sheraton Our Lucaya properties, announces its latest incentive for meeting planners: exclusive rates and free greens fees for each of their clients' guests.

With this new promotion, golfers may enjoy free greens fees and preferential tee times at both of Our Lucaya's 18-hole, par-72 golf courses, The Reef Club and The Lucayan Country Club. Considered to be two of the finest championship greens in the Bahamas, The Reef and Lucayan courses offer challenge and variety for both amateur and experienced golfers. The Lucayan Country Club course, known for its tree-lined fairways, small elevated greens and Dick Wilson bunkers, provides a challenge for even the most experienced golfer, while The Reef Club course, designed by golf legend Robert Trent Jones, Jr., is a contemporary links-style green with thirteen holes bordered by picturesque waters. Both clubs have hosted the PGA's Bahamas National Open, the Senior PGA's Slam and twelve other national championships.

Continue reading "FREE GREENS FEES FOR MEETING ATTENDEES AT GRAND BAHAMA'S OUR LUCAYA RESORT" »

Posted on October 6, 2008 9:33 AM | Link: FREE GREENS FEES FOR MEETING ATTENDEES AT GRAND BAHAMA'S OUR LUCAYA RESORT | Comments (0)

Savor the hidden treasure of The Bahamas

By Michele Jarvie, Canwest News Service, September 27, 2008
Under the cover of night, they lay in wait for merchant ships and plodding Spanish galleons filled with gold. Hundreds of islands, each with tiny cays and channels, were perfect hiding places for Blackbeard and other pirates who plundered ships all along the Bahamas in the late 1600s.

Henry Morgan liked to lurk in the shallows around Andros. Captain Kidd favoured the Exumas, and Anne Bonney and William Catt commandeered Cat Island. Most of the pirates were captured or killed by the mid-1700s, but evidence of the Bahamas' buccaneering past is evident today in hundreds of wrecks off the Abacos islands, Grand Bahama Island and Bimini. Colonial forts, now tourist sites, surround Nassau like sentinels, as if on watch for the black flags of ruin.

Most tourists visit the paradises of Nassau or Grand Bahama Island, but there is another side to the Bahamas to consider adding to an itinerary. Visiting the Out Islands puts the region's history into perspective.

Continue reading "Savor the hidden treasure of The Bahamas" »

Posted on September 29, 2008 4:42 PM | Link: Savor the hidden treasure of The Bahamas | Comments (0)