St Kitts Marriott takes the cake

The St Kitts Marriott Resort, a cousin of the Courtyard by Marriott at Invaders Bay in Port-of-Spain, put in a stellar performance in its first full year of operation. The 636-room resort in Frigate Bay on the island’s windward side, opened in early 2003, but last year two projects, described as key to the property’s success were opened – the Emerald Mist Spa and the Royal St Kitts Golf Club. The spa occupies some 15,000 square feet and features health, beauty and therapeutic programmes, total body care, a health club with state-of-the-art strength training equipment and fitness classes.

The Golf Club, complete with a new clubhouse and its “links style” course, was completely redesigned and is now considered one of the best conditioned and most scenic courses in the Caribbean. The redesign was managed by award-winning Canadian course architect Thomas McBroom. It is managed by Marriott Golf Management. Last year, the resort was host to several world famous personalities, including former US President Bill Clinton, former New York City Mayor, David Dinkins, US Congressman from New York, Charles Rangel and tennis/fashion star Anna Kournikova.

The resort’s impact  is felt across the island : it employs more than 875 persons and this is expected to increase. The icing on the cake of a successful year came with the Resort being named “Hotel of the Year” by the St Kitts Ministry of Tourism. One area in which occupancy is expected to grow is in the group business sector, which is expected to bring greater numbers of guests to the resort, with the consequential increased economic impact on the island’s GDP. The Resort is a member of Marriott and Renaissance Caribbean and Mexico Resorts, which comprises eight resorts in seven locations throughout the Caribbean and Mexico.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of St Kitts/Nevis, Dr Denzil Douglas, says a strong reform tax package will be implemented to place the national debt on a downward path. “Tighter expenditure control and improvement in tax administration are areas we must continue to pursue vigorously as a government,” said PM Douglas. He added that a comprehensive privatisation and commercialisation strategy would be developed in consultation with specific stakeholders. Meanwhile the Prime Minister said the country was anticipating an economic growth rate of four percent in 2004.  He said the fiscal outcomes improved strongly in 2003 and added that the IMF attributed the improved fiscal outcome to the completion in infrastructure reconstruction projects, enhanced expenditure control and improved revenue administration.