SANDALS Resorts International (SRI) — the luxury, all-inclusive resort leader — is expanding to St Vincent and the Grenadines, its eighth island in the Caribbean and a new destination for the brand, following the acquisition of Buccament Bay Spa and Resort.

Sandals said Buccament, which had been shuttered as a failed development since 2016, will be completely transformed to become the fourth Beaches Resort within the portfolio, joining the chain’s award-winning, family-friendly resorts in Jamaica and Turks & Caicos.

According to SRI founder and Chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart, “Investing in St Vincent and its captivating people was not only compelling but a natural next step for continued expansion within the Eastern Caribbean. Beginning with our first entry in Saint Lucia many years ago, and more recently Grenada and Barbados, we are champions of growth for the Eastern Caribbean, and it has remained at the forefront of our expansion strategy.”

He said expanding into a brand-new destination ushers in the tremendous opportunity for new and existing team members to experience a whole new way of life and professional growth path.

“The minute our customers land in St Vincent they will be enchanted with its magnificence. The resort hugs the Caribbean Sea and is nestled within a lush mountain range and neighbouring rainforest. Best of all, it’s only a short drive from the newly constructed Argyle International Airport,” added Stewart, who is also chairman of the Jamaica Observer.

The agreement, which had been in the works for nearly a year, will bring Beaches Resorts to the archipelago chain known as the ‘Jewels of the Caribbean’.

“The resort will undergo extensive reimagination and renovations,” stated Adam Stewart, deputy chairman of Sandals Resorts International. “Each time we expand we bring with us the full potential of our 40 years in hospitality with the creation of new jobs and skill sets through our Corporate University, the on-the-ground work of our Sandals Foundation, the dedicated airlift and comprehensive global marketing campaigns that always follow. As we look to the future, this growth stands for tremendous possibility,” he said.

The Sandals deputy chairman and St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves signed the contract Wednesday at the resort, located on the south-western coast of the island.

The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), in its report on the contract signing, said Vincentians will account for about 700 of the 1,000 people who will be employed at the resort.

“Your island is beyond extraordinary. Our relationship with the team members that already work in our company from your beautiful country is nothing short of world-class,” the news agency quoted Adam Stewart.

“We, as a company, feel and commit that we are going to be your best partner in tourism. We cannot help you in certain other industries, but in hospitality we’re going to bring something to this destination that’s going to uplift, not [only] Buccament Bay, not only Sandals Resorts International, specifically Beaches, but we expect every tide in tourism to rise with us as we play our part to bring accelerated airlift, training and development — non-bonded — for any and everyone who walk through the future of what we’re going to build here,” the younger Stewart said.

“We’re going to build a product that is going to be designed for the multi-generational family experience. Family is timeless, it is infinite,” Stewart said, noting the insecurity associated with the novel coronavirus pandemic. “But never before, in time, has anything lasted forever.”

He added: “We are looking at this investment, and this partnership with your Government and your country through a future lens, a lens that is bright, a lens that says that… travel is about energy, it’s about how it makes you feel, it’s about the richness of the culture of this country and about the Caribbean. It’s about how we make one another feel welcome.

“My company, right now, believes that the safest thing that we can do for the existing 14,000 team members of Sandals Resorts International is to look to the future and to create a better tomorrow than the momentary pause that we’re going through of insecurity today,” CMC quoted the younger Stewart, who is also deputy chairman of this newspaper.

“I commit today to move swiftly to bring our team back down here as soon as we are able to spend the kind of time we need to imagine, to create what we call a sandalisation process,” Stewart, who flew in from Jamaica Wednesday morning, told the ceremony before leaving Buccament Bay via power boat to board a flight.

“What we are going to do here is going to look a lot different than what you’re seeing today. It will be transformative; it will be inclusive. We will work with manufacturing, the taxi drivers, the entertainment industry, agriculture, the hardware stores, retail, and just about every sector within this country through a linkages programme, and ensuring that we play our rightful part,” Stewart said.

He said that the signing and other plans related to the resort were delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“But I want you all to put on your seat belts. You may have a minute or two to put them on, but put them on, get ready, because the next new, hottest destination, not just in the Caribbean, but this side of the hemisphere is going to be the beautiful, amazing islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines,” Stewart said.