Incentive idyll:
The pristine islands
are getting more luxury hotels.
Until recently, the Turks & Caicos, a group
of islands in the British West Indies, had not been a major
destination for U.S. incentive groups. But with a boom in
development, including the addition of three luxury properties, the
island’s tourism officials see interest on the rapid rise.
“We’ve just scratched the surface of the incentive market,”
said Caesar Campbell, executive director of the Turks and Caicos
Hotel and Tourism Association. “We have the air lift, and now we’re
getting the hotels.” Carriers including American, Delta and US
Airways serve the islands; flights from the United States have
increased by 25 percent in the past year.
Until now, most incentive groups have stayed at the 462-room
Beaches Resort on Providenciales, the most developed island in the
chain, said Campbell. The island’s two most upscale properties are
the 21-suite Grace Bay Club (which is adding 38 condos that will
available for rent by late summer) and the 60-room Parrot Cay. Both
can accommodate small incentive groups or individual winners.
But new properties either just opened or coming online over the
next two years will enable larger groups of high performers to bask
in the sun. Among them is The Palms, a luxurious 72-suite hotel
that opened last month on Providenciales and, on the previously
undeveloped island of West Caicos, the 125-room Molasses Reef, a
Ritz-Carlton Resort, is under construction. The property is due for
completion in 2007.
Also under construction is Amanresorts’ Amanyara, with 40
suites, 34 villas and a recording studio. The property, which is
the Singapore-based chain’s first venture in the Caribbean, is
scheduled to open later this year.