Sandals: We are not the devil’s work

One of the pioneers of cash-free holidays has risen to the defence of TUI following the company’s announcement that it would be selling only all-inclusive holidays via its First Choice brand from next summer.

Sandals, which is the largest employer in the Caribbean, rubbished recent accusations that such resorts failed to contribute to their local environment and were ‘all take and no give’.

Referring to recent public reaction to the First Choice announcement, Karl Thompson, managing director of Sandals UK sales and marketing arm Unique Vacations said: "Labelling all-inclusive resorts as the ‘devil’s work’ and the implication that they are ‘all take and no give’ are as far as a cry from reality as possible, certainly in the case of Sandals."

He said Sandals recognised the need to look after local team members and the local communities in which it operates. The operator, founded more than 30 years ago, subsidised further education for staff, put money into local schools, launched sporting academies in the Caribbean, pioneered energy saving initiatives and encouraged guests to visit the local communities, he said.

"Local businesses, taxi drivers, vendors and tour providers all rely on our guests’ business," added Thompson.

Sandals, a Caribbean-based company, also claimed it promotes rather than destroys Caribbean culture and traditions by bringing local artists, musicians and local businesses into the resorts to entertain guests. "Some local bands get their first break at a Sandals resort," added a spokesman. "The internationally renowned Caribbean artists Guy Harvey started out working at one of our resorts."

First Choice will offer only all-inclusive holidays from summer 2012, switching its non-all-inclusive product – including its Florida programme – to sister brand Thomson, which will also continue to offer all-inclusive holidays as well.

TUI communications director Christian Cull claimed not to know what percentage of the company’s product would be all-inclusive next year, but he insisted the move was not ‘a naked plan for growth in all-inclusive’. "It gives people a clear place to go for this type of holiday, that’s all," he said.

He also dismissed claims that all-inclusive resorts contribute less to locally economies by discouraging guests from spending money outside the hotels. A recent study of 21,000 TUI customers’ foreign exchange purchases revealed those travelling on all-inclusive holidays took just 14% less than those buying other holidays, he claimed.

Cull said a report being carried out on TUI’s behalf by external experts into all-inclusive resorts, which will be released shortly, will show that at one of its hotels 90% of the spend goes directly into the local economy.

"We are working very hard with local communities, but we know we are not perfect, we know we can do better, we are working to improve."

By Linsey McNeill