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Royal Caribbean buys Bahamas resort
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd has teamed up with Mexico’s ITM Group in a joint venture to buy the Grand Lucayan Resort in the Bahamas.
A letter of intent between the two also calls for the redevelopment of Freeport Harbor into a world-class cruise destination.
The Freeport development will involve the construction of new ship berths at the port which could potentially double capacity.
"It is anticipated to include a significant increase in cruise ship arrivals, bringing an additional two million passengers annually, with the addition of multiple cruise lines calling on Grand Bahama," said minister of state for Grand Bahama, Kwasi Thompson.
The purchase of the Grand Lucayan, Grand Bahama’s largest resort, will lead to its transformation into a new theme park style destination with ‘water-based family entertainment, dining, gaming and entertainment options, and five-star hotel accommodations,’ said the office of the Bahamas PM.
The purchase price for the resort is $65 million and an additional $130 million will be spent to develop the site.
It will create 2,000 jobs and the first phase of development will take about two years.
"For us, it was more than just about trying to sell the hotel. We knew we needed to do more, and creating a unique destination was at the forefront. The joint venture with Royal Caribbean and ITM fit that bill," Senator Thompson said.
Thompson said the government had received more than 60 expressions of interest to buy the iconic resort, which sustained major hurricane damage more than two years ago.
Russell Benford, Royal Caribbean’s VP of government relations for the Americas, said: "We understand what Grand Lucayan means to the Government of The Bahamas and to the people of Grand Bahama and so you have our commitment that we will do this project right."
ITM Group has developed ports in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Costa Maya.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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