THE
OCCIDENTAL GRAND ARUBA RESORT will debut May 1 on Palm
Beach, following a $24 million renovation of the former
Allegro-branded property. The all-inclusive resort will offer 391
rooms and suites (down from 402), including the 50-room Royal Club,
with all oceanview accommodations; seven restaurants; a spa; and a
kids club. Occidental Hotels & Resorts has more than 20
properties in Mexico and the Dominican Republic under its three
inclusive brands: Allegro; Occidental Grand; and Royal Hideaway.
The resort upgrade is one of many investments under way in Arubas
tourism product this year. The Aruba Tourism Authority, along with
its private sector partners, has investments worth more than $200
million in every sector of the industry, from the airport and
cruise terminals to hotels, spas and restaurants. The island, which
posted more than 620,000 visitors from January through October
2005, is poised for an increase in tourism numbers and revenue this
year, according to Edison Briesen, minister of tourism and
transportation. Projects include a $34 million airport expansion, a
$16 million investment in a 10-mile-long park from the airport to
the high-rise hotel corridor and a $150 million investment in the
hotel product through 2007. In addition, an island-wide
tourism-training program will be launched; new restaurants are
planned; and De Palm Tours is sinking $5 million into new vehicles
and a renovation of De Palm Island, its private island. For
details, visit www.aruba.com.
THE 29TH
ANNUAL CARIBBEAN TOURISM CONFERENCE will take place in the
Bahamas in October; neither the specific location nor dates for
CTC-29 have been confirmed. The Bahamas was the venue for CTC-25 in
2002 at Our Lucaya on Grand Bahama Island. CTO and the Bahamas
Ministry of Tourism expect to host more than 600 tourism industry
officials. We look forward to returning to the Bahamas, said
Vincent Vanderpool-Walllace, who noted that this years conference
would again include the awarding of continuing education credits
for MasterClasses taken at the conference. The program is run in
conjunction with George Washington University in Washington.
Conference delegates completing any of the MasterClasses will earn
continuing education units, which can be used toward GWUs Event and
Tourism Certificate programs offered online or in the classroom.
For details, visit www.onecaribbean.org.
THE ST.
LUCIA TOURIST BOARD finalized the line-up for its 15th
annual Jazz Festival, to be held May 5 to 14. Artists to perform
include Seal, Al Green, Babyface, Nancy Wilson, Freddy Cole and
Kenny Garrett. Additional fringe musical acts to perform in various
locations around the island will be announced over the next few
weeks. Musical acts will perform each night for 10 days, and the
festival will be capped with a four-day line-up May 11 to 14 on the
main stage at Pigeon Island National Landmark. Jazz packages are
available from Air Jamaica Vacations at www.airjamaica.com
and Alken Tours at www.alkentours.com. For more information, visit the
official Web site at www.stluciajazz.org.
TAKEOFFS
" JetBlue will
expand service to the Caribbean with two new routes from Orlando,
adding twice-daily flights to San Juan and daily flights to
Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, beginning May 3. JetBlue currently serves
San Juan, Aguadilla and Ponce, Puerto Rico from New York (Kennedy),
with additional nonstop service to San Juan from Newark. Elsewhere
in the Caribbean, JetBlue serves Nassau from Kennedy and Boston and
Santiago, Dominican Republic, from Kennedy. In addition, JetBlue
received Transportation Dept. approval to offer service between New
York and Bermuda, clearing the way for the airline to begin the
flights from Kennedy Airport in May on its new Embraer 190
aircraft.
" Delta Air Lines
will offer new daily nonstop flights between Atlanta and Kingston,
Jamaica, effective June 1. The new service will expand to 17 the
number of Caribbean destinations served by Delta and complements
the carriers existing service to Montego Bay, offered year-round
from Atlanta and Cincinnati.