Sandals Antigua to host media meeting

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados:

SANDALS RESORTS, the pre-eminent Caribbean all-inclusive chain of resorts, will host local, regional and international media, along with government and industry officials, at the ninth meeting of Counterpart International's Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism, on Tuesday, June 14.

Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, chairman of the Sandals and Beaches chains, made the announcement in Barbados recently after the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference and Profit Partnership meeting honoured him. Mr. Stewart received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Caribbean Hotel Association President Berthia Parle for personal and professional achievement.

"We are happy to host CMExPress; (it's) a very important meeting of media and industry officials," said Mr. Stewart, whose company hosted the first CMEx meeting in October 2001. "Sandals takes the business of sustainable tourism very seriously and we trust this meeting will contribute to the region's successful hosting of Cricket World Cup in 2007 and advance the dialogue on disaster mitigation in the Caribbean," said Stewart of the topics under scrutiny in Antigua.

Mr. Stewart noted that the meeting comes at a time when Sandals is expanding its own accommodation facilities in Antigua "... which demonstrates our commitment to an improved product and increased accommodation for a historic sporting spectacle in the region in 2007."

Dr. Basil Springer, chairman of Counterpart Caribbean, described Mr. Stewart as a Caribbean visionary. "Mr. Stewart is a proponent of the smart partnership philosophy which recognises the respective inputs from the public and private sectors necessary to provide the balance for sustainable economic growth."

CONTRIBUTED From left: Sandals Chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) President Berthia Parle, Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur, and CHA Executive Director Alec Sanguinetti pose for the cameras after Mr. Stewart was presented with the CHA Lifetime Achievement Award recently.

PATH OF EXCELLENCE

His entrepreneurial drive throughout the years has been coupled with the optimal mix of money and management, said Dr. Springer, "without which the rate of growth and employment generation in the Caribbean would be stymied."

CMExPress sponsors and supporters include: American Express, Antigua and Barbuda Department of Tourism, Association of Caribbean Media Workers, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Barbados Tourism Authority, Black Entertainment Television, Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, Caribbean Broadcasting Union, Caribbean Hotel Association, Caribbean Star Airlines, Caribbean Sun Airlines, Coco Kreole, Continental Airlines, Half Moon Montego Bay, Jamaica Pegasus, Jamaica Tourist Board, Ruder Finn, Sandals Resorts, Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of Tourism, United Nations Development Programme, and the United States Agency for International Development.