Jalousie Beach
The Eastern Caribbean island of
St. Lucia, known for its densely forested Piton mountains
and natural hot springs, is getting 1,000 new luxury hotel rooms in
the next three years. Among the newcomers:
* The 124-room
Discovery at Marigot Bay, managed by GLA Hotels, a French operator
of luxury getaways, which opened in September;
* Le Paradis, a
development that will include a 232-room Westin hotel with golf, a
spa and meeting space for 600 attendees, to open in 2007;
* The 112-room
Jalousie Plantation, formerly a Hilton, to be turned into a luxury
resort by December 2007, and
* The Ritz-Carlton,
St. Lucia, with 275 rooms (225 of which are suites), a spa, two
golf courses and 7,000 square feet of meeting space, opening in
2009.
These new brands validate St. Lucia as
an incentive destination, said Simone Champagnie, managing director
of SNC Destinations, a group that connects U.S. planners with
Caribbean destination management companies and hotels. “There are
properties on the island that have long been upscale, but because
they’re locally managed, they don’t bring as much interest from
corporate planners,” Champagnie noted.
According to Ezzat Coutry,
Ritz-Carlton’s senior vice president for the Caribbean, Mexico and
Florida, the hotel company came in because of the island’s unique
beauty, along with convenient airlift from the United States and
Europe. “This is a great incentive destination,” he added. “I think
it’s one that will have quite a bit of charm.”
“We will never be a destination that
caters to large groups,” said Maria Fowell, the island’s new
director of tourism, “but I think we can be focusing on the
smaller, more specialized meetings.”