Archives for December 2021

The Sandals Foundation works in eight Caribbean islands coordinating educational, community, and environmental programs that are changing lives.

Thanks to Sandals Resorts International’s commitment to fund the governance of this foundation, they guarantee that 100% of all donations go directly into programs benefiting local communities.

WAYS TO DONATE

In-kind Donations

The Sandals Foundation welcomes any of the following items as in-kind donations:

• School Supplies
• Children’s Books – New and gently used/No text books or encyclopedias
• Toys – New or gently used
• Medical Supplies/Equipment (Gift In kind Donation form must be completed and submitted for approval prior to donation)
• Sports Equipment
• Computers – No more than 3 years old
• Children’s Clothing – New or gently used
• Backpacks – New or gently used

Shipping and Distribution Guidelines: The Sandals Foundation is willing to assist in ensuring donations reach the island(s) and is responsible for all costs related to items being shipped from Miami, FL, to the islands/resorts through Hospitality Purveyors Incorporated (HPI). Donors are responsible for all shipping expenses to HPI in Miami, FL. All donations sent must be clearly labeled for the Sandals Foundation and have a packing list and a Commercial Invoice stating the value of each item and should be addressed to: Hospitality Purveyors Inc (HPI); Attn: Liz Kaiser for the Sandals Foundation; 5000 S.W. 72nd Avenue, Suite 111; Miami, FL 33155; Tel: 305-667-9725.

Prior to shipping items to HPI, notification of intent should be sent via email to [email protected]  advising of the incoming cargo. Please state the island destination(s) and which specific resort and/or project these items are for. For example: Sandals Whitehouse, Culloden School Project. Additionally, the Sandals Foundation will be responsible for all costs related to clearance and local distribution of donated items being shipped through HPI only. Please note, due to customs regulations, these items are shipped in bulk and there is no guarantee of shipment date.

If guests are visiting the islands and wish to bring in goods on their own accord, the Sandals Foundation works closely with Pack for a Purpose to accept up to 5 lbs. of approved supplies at the resort’s Front Desk for local distribution.

Island Impact Initiative

Island Impact gives Sandals and Beaches resort guests the chance to explore the island, make new friends, and positively impact the destinations they love.

The Sandals Foundation and Island Routes Caribbean Adventures have teamed up to create an extraordinary volunteer experience for travelers and locals that help fulfill the promises of the Sandals Foundation pillars: Education, Community, and Environment.

Care for Kids

Provides an opportunity to students who are entering high school, guiding them to complete their education by adding value to their lives and helping them become productive citizens to the islands.

Since 2009 to 2018, scholarships have been awarded to 180 students across eight Caribbean islands

This 5-year program runs through high school, and scholarships are awarded annually in August for the upcoming school year. Upon successful completion and acceptance of the advanced level program, students will be considered into the Bachelors Program.

The Sandals Foundation has seen many successes with students in disciplines such as: Early Childhood Education, Dental Therapy, Social Work, Business Administration and Medicine.

Pack for a Purpose

Guests can make a difference in the Caribbean destinations where they travel simply by packing needed supplies and bringing them along in their suitcase.

As a valued partner of Pack for a Purpose®, the Sandals Foundation encourages guests staying at any Sandals or Beaches Resort to pack up to 5 pounds of needed school supplies to help further the educational needs of students in the islands. All donations can be dropped off at the resort’s Front Desk, and the Sandals Foundation will ensure timely delivery to local school(s) in the region. For a complete list of the supplies needed by the educational institutions Sandals works with, click here.

Disaster Relief

Sandals Foundation lobbies support from resort guests, trade partners, team members, travel agents, suppliers, and other organizations to bring relief and to uplift communities affected by natural disasters.

Sandals Foundation’s hurricane relief partnerships in Haiti & Bahamas benefit thousands.

Within days of Hurricane Matthew, the Foundation mobilized to give immediate response to Caribbean families whose lives were severely disrupted. The Foundation created a special Hurricane Relief Fund which is 100% dedicated to relief efforts for Haiti and The Bahamas.

Hurricane Matthew made passage through Haiti and Bahamas in close succession during the first week of October 2016. In its wake was an alarming death rate and massive destruction to homes and properties on both islands.

The Sandals Foundation invested over $200,000 in the renovation of three Turks and Caicos schools damaged by the passage of hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Repairs to the Enid Capron Primary school included roofing, electrical work, and other infrastructural improvements to the Stubbs which houses the school’s sick bay, the school kitchen, the computer room, and teacher resource room. Construction of the new library at Clement Howell High School, funded by the Sandals Foundation, was well underway when the hurricanes hit in September 2017, and the newly refurbished structure suffered some damage. The school also suffered damage to its canteen. The Sandals Foundation completed construction of the state-of-the-art library and made the repairs to the school’s canteen which included replacing the roof, patio, doors, and windows. Ianthe Pratt Primary School received repairs to their kitchen, library, hallways, classrooms, and had a new stage constructed for their performing arts area.

Resort Retail Merchandise

Visit the Sandals Foundation corner on resort at Sandals or Beaches to purchase.

SEEN IN THE MAIN PHOTO: Adam Stewart, Founder and President of the Sandals Foundation, and scholarship recipients – Image courtesy of Sandals Foundation

MEDIA CONTACT: 1-888-SANDALS, [email protected]

#sandals

#sandalsfoundation

#sandalsdonations

After months of relying on virtual activities, Tourism Seychelles hosted its first educational tour since the beginning of the pandemic for a small group of German tour operator representatives.

The trip, which took place from December 10 – 15, was organized in partnership with Ethiopian Airlines, Club Med and with the support of trade partners in Seychelles. The 6-day visit aimed at raising awareness of the destination and helping the participants when selling the product.

The five product managers were accompanied by Christian Zerbian, representative of Tourism Seychelles in Germany and Austria. The group were taken on a tour of Praslin and La Digue, visiting the Vallée de Mai and Anse Lazio as well as the L’Union Estate Park whilst on Mahé the group discovered Victoria and the Takamaka rum distillery.

After promoting the Seychelles together with Club Med and Ethiopian Airlines virtually on the German market, the educational trip was a further activity of the joint marketing activities executed earlier this year.

All participants were grateful to experience the Seychelles in person.

They expressed that the entire trip enhanced their knowledge to better sell the destination and would inspire them as product managers to expand their portfolio of the Seychelles islands.

Showing remarkable signs of the recovery of its tourism industry, Seychelles has recorded 170,448 visitors for the period of January 1 to December 19, 2021.

With a total of 16,470 visitors recorded year to date, Germany features amongst the top four source markets worldwide for Seychelles this year.

#seychelles

#famtrip

MEDIA CONTACT: Tourism Seychelles, [email protected] 

Tourism Seychelles hosted its second fam trip in association with its airline partner Emirates Airlines from December 13-16, 2021. The activity follows a media trip in September with leading GCC-based magazines. Participating in the trip were the airline’s and destination’s top sellers in the GCC, winners of an incentive announced on ceremony on October 24.

The agents from Al Rais, ATS Travel, Dnata, Pure Prestige, Sharaf, and Akbar Travel were joined by representatives from Emirates Airlines and the Tourism Seychelles Middle East office and during their visit toured some of Seychelles’ most famous tourist attractions, including the islands’ capital Victoria and Eden Island, enjoying the lush greenery and tranquility of the luminous islands.

The group stayed in Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa and Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa —Green Globe Certified resorts committed to continuing sustainable environmental efforts— where they were then introduced to some of the country’s authentic Creole cuisine.

Commending Emirates on this latest stage in the partnership between airline and Seychelles, Ahmed Fathallah, Tourism Seychelles’ representative for the Middle East, said; “Emirates Airlines has been one of our most familiar partnerships, and we are so pleased that they have provided an avenue for top-ranking travel agents to promote Seychelles and to see for themselves what exactly makes it such a unique destination. I am confident there will be many more to come and we’re eager to show others what’s in store from Seychelles.”

The fam trip is of the latest installment in Tourism Seychelles and Emirates Airlines’ ongoing commitment to increase awareness of the destination in the GCC region and to give travel agents the opportunity to learn and discover more of what the islands have to offer.

The GCC has been one of the key source of visitors for Seychelles in 2001, with the UAE the second-most top performing market for the destination worldwide year to date, growing by over 200% over the last year and just below the 24,173 visitors it generated in 2019 when it was the fifth leading tourism market for the island archipelago.

MEDIA CONTACT: Tourism Seychelles, [email protected] 

#seychelles

#tourismseychelles

#famtrip

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation has taken note of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases around the world and is implementing new testing requirements for all persons entering The Bahamas as a precautionary effort to continue to keep the destination safe.

Effective Monday, December 27, 2021, the following protocols will take effect:

•             All those travelling to The Bahamas from other countries, whether fully vaccinated or unvaccinated, will be required to obtain a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than three days (72 hours) prior to the date of arrival to The Bahamas.

o             Vaccinated travelers can present either a Rapid Antigen Test or RT-PCR test, while unvaccinated travelers must present a RT-PCR test.

Effective Friday, January 7, 2022, the following protocols will take effect:

•             All those travelling to The Bahamas from other countries, whether fully vaccinated or unvaccinated, will be required to obtain a negative RT-PCR (including PCR, NAA, NAAT, TMA or RNA) test, taken no more than three days (72 hours) prior to the date of arrival to The Bahamas.

o             Rapid Antigen Tests will no longer be accepted. All travellers must obtain a RT-PCR test.

For full details please visit Bahamas.com/travelupdates.

#bahamas

MEDIA CONTACT:

Anita Johnson-Patty

General Manager, Global Communications

Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation

[email protected]

Weber Shandwick

Public Relations

[email protected]

Jamaica Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has hailed a multi-million US dollar investment by Sandals Resorts International as the kind of positive development that needs to be highlighted amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Sandals is currently carrying out over US$350 million in investments in Jamaica, with more to follow as it expands and upgrades several properties. 

Speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for High Grove Village, which was officially opened at Sandals Royal Caribbean, Montego Bay, yesterday (December 23), Jamaica Tourism Minister Bartlett hailed Sandals founder, the late Gordon “Butch” Stewart saying he had left a legacy that was world-renowned and was playing a major role in making Jamaica stand out as the premier resort destination in the Caribbean.

“I think the legacy that “Butch” has left the world by way of this iconic and most aspirational addition to the tourism landscape, Sandals, is indeed in great hands, and I want to commend Adam and the team for carrying this legacy so well,” said Bartlett. He also highlighted Sandals moving forward with its development of high-end luxury products as “something that not only inspires us in the industry but gives us a great moment of delight and pride.”  

Minister Bartlett said arising from his promotional tours over the past six months,

“We have detected an appetite for the Jamaican experience, and we’re also seeing a desire to engage Jamaican brands.”

Speaking on the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister Bartlett said while there was a concern for emerging variants, there was so much more good news, including that the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) at the University of the West Indies had received special recognition as the World’s Leading Tourism Initiative at the World Travel Awards (WTA) 2021 held in Dubai last week. 

“This is a signature statement of how the tourism product in Jamaica has developed and how the intellectual and academic elements have come together to give us a quantum leap in terms of understanding how to manage disruptions and how to prepare ourselves for waves of disruptions such as pandemics,” said Minister Bartlett. He added that it was, therefore, necessary “to take note of what’s happening and to glory in what we’re doing rather than to be negative.”

Sandals Executive Chairman Adam Stewart disclosed that “We are looking at over US$350 investment in Jamaica and that doesn’t include Dunn’s River Phase 2.” Current projects include expansion of Sandals Royal Caribbean with 84 rooms, including a 48-suite High Grove Village, officially opened yesterday. Additional investment is slated for next year on Sandals Dunn’s River, Sandals Negril and US$250 million on Beaches Runaway Bay. 

#jamaicatourism

MEDIA CONTACT:

Corporate Communications Division

Ministry of Tourism

64 Knutsford Boulevard

Kingston 5

Tel: (876) 920-4926-30

Or

Kingsley Roberts

Senior Director, Corporate Communications

Ministry of Tourism

64 Knutsford Boulevard

Kingston 5

Tel: 920-4926-30, ext.: 5990

Cell: (876) 505-6118

Fax: 920-4944