ST.
LUCIA'S new minister of tourism and civil aviation is
Allen Chastanet, owner and managing director of Coco Resorts' Coco
Kreole and Coco Palm on St. Lucia. Chastanet previously served as
the director of tourism in St. Lucia from 1991 to 1994, was with
Air Jamaica for eight years and also served as managing director of
the Island Outpost hotel chain. Chastanet resigned from his Coco
Resorts' position when he was appointed tourism minister Dec. 19,
handing over the reins to a management team headed by his sister
Feolla. As tourism minister of St. Lucia -- the country that was
elected to the two-year chairman position of the Caribbean Tourism
Organization in October -- Chastanet also takes on that post as
well, replacing former CTO chairman and St. Lucia tourism minister
Phillip Pierre, whose political party was swept out of office in
St. Lucia's recent elections.
ST.
MAARTEN hopped on the passport bandwagon with a package
offering an incentive to holders of new or renewed passports issued
after Dec. 15. The St. Maarten Bucks program, which offers $100 in
on-island "money" that can be used at participating restaurants,
hotels, car agencies and retailers on Dutch St. Maarten, is valid
through Dec. 31. St. Maarten "expects a healthy growth in visitors
this winter, despite any inconveniences travelers had to endure as
a result of the new passport requirements," according to Regina
LaBega, director of tourism. The St. Maarten Bucks program "is our
way of thanking the 'first-timers' and those visitors who had to
renew their passports in order to visit us," LaBega said. For
details on the hotels participating in the St. Maarten Bucks
program, click on packages under the
accommodations section on www.visitsxm.com. The new
passport requirements take effect Jan. 23. All U.S. citizens
entering or re-entering the U.S. and traveling by air between the
U.S. and any points in the Western Hemisphere will be required to
present a valid passport. For passport details, visit http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html.
For a list of other suppliers offering passport rebate promotions,
click here.
LODGEPODGE
" Almond Resorts will
open its 300-room all-inclusive Almond Casuarena Beach Resort on
Barbados' south coast on March 15. The property is undergoing a $30
million renovation and expansion project that includes a 100-room
addition, opening in early summer. Almond has two properties on the
west coast of Barbados -- the 395-room Almond Beach Village, and
the 161-room Almond Beach Club & Spa -- as well as the 238-room
Almond Morgan Bay on St. Lucia's west coast. The 360-room Almond
Smugglers Cove, its fifth resort (and second on St. Lucia), opens
Feb. 1 eight miles north of Castries. For details, visit www.almondresorts.com.
" Island Outpost,
founded by Island Records' Chris Blackwell, added the
boutique-style, 18-hut Compass Point in Nassau, Bahamas, to its
collection of five funky resorts that also includes Goldeneye,
Strawberry Hill, Jake's and The Caves in Jamaica and Pink Sands in
the Bahamas. For details, visit www.islandoutpost.com.
PENCIL IT
IN
" The Caribbean Hotel
Association's annual Marketplace, Jan. 13 to 16, Aruba. For
details, visit www.caribbeanhotels.org.
" Caribbean Arts and
Craft Festival, March 10 to 17, various locations in the British
Virgin Islands, including Beef Island, Tortola, Virgin Gorda and
Jost Van Dyke. For details, visit www.caribbeanartisan.net.
Caribbean
Editor: Gay Nagle Myers
Phone: (201) 902-1924
[email protected]
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opportunities in the E-letters, contact [email protected].