We call this the Sandals effect: when Sandals enters a destination, it usually leads to big events in the air transport sector.
This has happened before: destinations like Grenada saw a huge increase in air traffic when the island welcomed its first Sandals in 2013.
Fast forward to 2022, Sandals opened its first resort in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, and just one month later, the island set an all-time record for monthly arrivals from American tourists. In fact, Curacao is continuing to break its all-time record for tourism this year.
That’s already happening in St. Vincent, where Sandals opened the brand new Sandals St. Vincent Resort this spring.
The new Sandals Royal Curacao is the island’s most exciting resort.
Air traffic to the island is projected to increase by 178 percent between September 2023 and September 2024.
The opposite is true in places like Tobago, where a deal to bring Sandals to the island fell through several years ago and the island still doesn’t have a single direct flight from the United States.
“When Sandals comes to market, the Caribbean comes with them,” said Gary Sadler, executive vice president of sales and industry relations for Unique Vacations, Sandals’ global distributor. “This is crucial for destination stakeholders and travel advisor partners as Sandals introduces new customers to the unique experiences and fun of a Caribbean vacation.”
Indeed, Sandals’ presence on the “main” island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been a major boost for the entire destination, facilitating visits not only to St. Vincent, but to the beautiful Grenadines islands with their private island resorts like Palm Island and charming smaller destinations like Bequia.
“We are building a unique and incredible tourism sector, and air is essential to that effort,” St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Minister Carlos James told Caribbean Journal in a statement. “We want everyone to experience Vincy – an authentic Caribbean destination like nothing they’ve seen, felt or imagined before, and it all starts with making it easy for visitors to get here.”
