PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Island — “Elegance” is the one word the globe’s most powerful travel advisor leader, Zane Kerby, used to describe the ultra-modern Treasure Beach Village (TVB) which has just emerged from the timeless sands of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Kerby, who heads the 20,000-strong American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) — the largest of its kind in the world — had no hesitation.

“If it had to be one word, that would be ‘elegance’. Treasure Beach Village is an elegant addition to an already top resort,” he told the journalist who asked during the celebratory weekend marking the official opening of the US$150-million family resort on Providenciales.

Jamaican Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, a special guest at the weekend event, was already calculating the “national wealth” to be derived by Jamaica among the immediate benefits whenever Jamaican-owned businesses expand regionally.

Addressing journalists on the sidelines, the prime minister suggested that Jamaica’s national wealth extends beyond the island’s shores through companies capable of exporting talent — like GraceKennedy and Sandals — creating jobs and expanding the country’s influence overseas.

“We need to understand what national wealth is… The national wealth also includes the Jamaican private sector who are grown in Jamaica, who innovate in Jamaica, and who export to other countries regionally.” He made comparisons to global corporations such as Microsoft, Tesla and Huawei.

Holness underscored the opportunities being created by Sandals and Beaches which are allowing Jamaicans to continue earning and supporting families back home, even when properties in Jamaica were impacted by catastrophic events such as last October’s Hurricane Melissa.

Jamaicans constitute the third-largest population group in the TCI, many of them lured there by Beaches resort which was started in 1995 by SRI founder, the late Gordon “Butch” Stewart who began with the Caribbean Village and added the French, Italian and Key West villages.

For Adam Stewart, executive chairman and heir to Butch Stewart’s resort chain, the Treasure Beach Village is the modern iteration of “Beaches 2.0” – the futuristic image of what the resort looks like and the first to begin and come to completion since his great dad passed in January 2021.

The official opening marked the first major step in a planned US$1-billion collection of Beaches family resorts across the Caribbean.

“This is the first of five new resorts,” Stewart said in welcoming some 500 guests at the celebratory weekend. “Next year, we will open Beaches Exuma in The Bahamas. The year after that, Beaches Barbados. The year after that, the new Beaches in Jamaica. And then the year after that, St Vincent and the Grenadines.”

Of his father, Stewart said: “He was a champion of believing in what is possible, the Caribbean dream, and believing in Caribbean tourism and Caribbean people more than anybody else that I know.”

Premier Charles Washington Misick, also speaking with journalists, described Beaches Turks and Caicos as the “marquee property” of the Beaches chain, and said the latest expansion further strengthens the territory’s position as a high-end tourism destination.

“We have to shoot for the high-end, low-density, high-value rather than mass tourism,” he said, adding that average room rates during winter can exceed US$1,000 per night in an addition which was the largest contributor to the country’s gross domestic product.

Treasure Beach Village reflects a growing shift toward multi-generational travel and features 101 multi-bedroom suites; six new dining concepts; a 15,000-square-foot lagoon-style pool; the innovative Pinta Food Hall named after one of Columbus’s three ships, the Pinta, Nina and the Santa Maria; topped off by the trend-setting Starfish cinema.

The celebratory weekend was populated by several of the most current movie stars, entertainers and podcasters, including Taye Diggs, Nico Tortorella, Jessie Eisenberg, Chad Michael Murray, Boris Kodjoe, Kelly Bensimon, and Abbey Romeo.

Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands Washington Misick (left) is all ears as he hosts Jamaican Prime MInister Dr Andrew Holness at the official opening of Treasure Beach Village at Beaches Turks and Caicos last weekend.(Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Sandals Resorts International boss Adam Stewart welcomes Turks and Caicos Islands Governor Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnan upon arrival at the newly minted Treasure Beach Village. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Actor Taye Diggs (left) is greeted by Adam Stewart, executive chairman of Sandals Resorts International, at the opening of the Treasure Beach Village.(Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Zane Kerby (right), president and CEO of the powerful American Society of Travel Advisors, exchanges notes with travel advisor Kameish Stanley of San Diego-based Avoya Travel. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)