Gay Nagle Myers
Covid's impact this year on the business of tourism came up during my recent conversation with Adam Stewart, deputy chairman of Sandals Resorts International, on the launch of the Sandals brand on Curacao.
He was bullish but conservative on the outlook for tourism recovery in the year ahead.
"2021 will be a much better year," he said. "It won't be a boom year, but it will be an exciting one with great potential.
"Repeat travelers and new travelers will begin to venture forth, especially once the vaccines are available and people feel more confident about traveling," he said.
The conversation took place before the outbreak of Covid-19 on Grenada, after several Sandals Grenada guests and employees tested positive; the resort closed until February.
"We all are working through Covid one step at a time," Stewart said during the interview. "People want to travel to places they love. I know that some are scared to travel now, and that's a personal choice, which I respect, but we have to get on with our lives."
He said that Sandals and Beaches early on had implemented health and safety protocols through its Platinum Protocols of Cleanliness, which include what he said was "rigorous" cleaning and sanitation procedures, the practice recommended public health behaviors, and ongoing testing.
He sang the praises of Sandals team members and the travel advisor community during the pandemic. And he spoke of the resilience of the Caribbean people and the spirit of cooperation that he said has permeated the hospitality industry: from hotel associations, travel advisors, tour operators, ground handlers, governments, entities in the public-private sectors and competitors.
"It's been a beautiful thing to see," he said. "Everyone pulled together, shared ideas and programs and has worked so hard to get the protocols right and to get the health and safety procedures to the highest standards to get tourism back on track."
The announcement of the future Sandals Curacao and the company's plans for its fourth Beaches resort, this one in St. Vincent, which breaks ground next spring, "reaffirms our commitment to the Caribbean and to what we do," Stewart said.