WILLEMSTAD - Recently Sandals Resorts announced that they will take over the operations of the Santa Barbara Resort in Curaçao. This came as a well-needed positive news for the island during the COVID-19 pandemic. This news gave the people hope for the future of the tourism industry in Curaçao.
This great news is reason for a conversation with the CEO of the Curaçao Tourist Board, Mr. Paul Pennicook.
“Recently, Sandals has announced that they are coming into Curaçao. That is going to make a huge difference for our main markets, especially North America,” says Mr. Pennicook.
According to the CTB CEO, just the way that Sandals has made the announcement in the North American market, it will have a massive impact. “We will not see the actual impact until a year from now when the hotel opens but just the announcement itself, has been all over our main markets.”
Sandals Resorts is particularly strong in the North American market. This means that when they open, Curaçao will see a lot of business from this market. “Even though they have not started operating yet, the impact can already be felt.”
Mr. Pennicook says he had the privilege of being Executive VP of Unique Vacations which is the marketing arm of the company. He knows firsthand about the operations at this company. “I can tell you any island where Sandals has gone into, has seen an automatic increase in business, particularly from North America and generally from everywhere. And I am saying an increase in business because Sandals is that kind of aggressive competitor where they deliver an excellent product and they also market that product very effectively,” says Mr. Pennicook.
To the question what is Curaçao going to see with the arrival of Sandals Resorts, Mr. Pennicooks says that the island will get additional airlift from North America. Pennicook says that airlift tends to follow them where they go because they are an extremely popular brand with a loyal following.
Curaçao is strong in the Netherlands and in Germany. Sandals Resorts will help to bring more Europeans from countries such as Italy, France, and even the United Kingdom to Curacao. They have an office in Europe, which covers the entire continent. They also have a sales network in South America. This means that with Sandals, Curaçao will see an increase in visitors from multiple markets.
Sandals has a lot of confidence in Curaçao. “For a company like that, in this time, to come and put down a flag in Curaçao, is amazing,” says Mr. Pennicook. “It’s going to do wonders for this destination!”
Mr. Pennicook reacts to criticism that the Santa Barbara Resort is too far away from the people and that the rest of the island will not benefit from the visitors staying at Sandals Resort. Pennicook says that Santa Barbara is the perfect location for such a holiday offered by Sandals Resort. “You have everything that visitors need. You have multiple restaurants, you have entertainment, you have watersports and other sports. Everything is included there. And they have a major golf course.”
For those who think that the resort will keep people away from the rest of the island, this is not true. “Because Sandals is so successful in moving volumes of people that the resort will have to do a lot of local purchases anyway which will be beneficial to the economy. So yes, the people may not go out to restaurants every night, but they will be taking a lot of off property excursions.
