Sealy on Sam Lord’s

 

Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy has defended the $70 million figure projected to be earned annually by the new Sam Lord’s Castle.
Insisting that the projection was not one made up by the DLP government, he stated that the figure was given in a report from the international financial group contracted by the administration on the multi-million dollar project.
 
“We had contracted the services of a specialist real estate firm JLL Financial and Professional Consultants and they concluded that the new Sam Lord’s Castle project in terms of the property’s size and ability to capture various types of demand including leisure and of course, groups combined with its branding should reach an occupancy penetration of 1.05 times the competitive set. The study therefore forecast stabilization at 68 percent occupancy.
 
“In addition, in terms of the average daily rates it is estimated that with a penetration rate of 1.25 times the competitive set, based on the quality and international branding, the hotel should be able to capture a high rate of demand as well. It is anticipated that the ramp up period would be two hours and the facility should stabilize at an average of US $383 per room,” he said.
 
Speaking during the wrap up of the debate on the vesting in Barbados Tourism Investment Land at Sam Lord’s Castle on Tuesday night, Sealy argued that larger numbers of visitors were anticipated to head to these shores as the hotel stock increased.
 
“In 2015, we had more visitors here on the island than ever before in our history and Sandals had to do a lot with that . And the (Opposition) knows that Sam Lord’s Castle will also help us in future years to set new and better benchmarks,” he added. (JMB)

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