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A team from international hotel operator Apple Leisure Group is currently touring the Jolly Beach Hotel in Antigua with the hopes of taking over its management within sixty days.
Tourism Minister Charles Max Fernandez said the group arrived on the twin island nation Monday and comprised several professionals.
They have so far, held talks with Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Environment Minister Molwyn Joseph, and Fernandez.
“They have been here over the last two days. We are hoping that we can move along and get Jolly Beach opened in time for the season because there is a need for more rooms. They understood what we needed,”Fernandez shared.
He said preliminary discussions seem to point to satisfactory endings with the view of getting the hotel up and running again.
Architects and engineers are expected to arrive in Antigua over the weekend, to continue the process.
Earlier, the government announced that major hotelier Rob Barrett, the man behind the successful Elite Island Resorts brand, had declined any further participation in Jolly Beach.
Hopes had been high that the chain which operates a string of successful resorts across Antigua would be the panacea to bring the once-thriving beachfront complex back into operation.
In early June, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that under the agreement with Elite, US$10 million would be invested into the property as part of a loan to the government.
The money would have gone towards the repair and rebuilding of several of the hotel’s structures, according to Browne, and also aid with compensating the resort’s former workers who are collectively owed more than EC$7 million in severance and outstanding pay. But that fell flat.
Efforts to sell the property also hit a stumbling block in recent months after it was revealed that there is a US$15 million charge on it by a creditor.
Meanwhile, the country’s main Opposition is accusing the government of playing games with the livelihood of former Jolly Beach Resort workers.
In a statement issued by the UPP on Tuesday, the party claimed the government has no clue on how to successfully address the issues facing the resort, which closed in March 2020 putting 500 people out of work.
Damani Tabor, the UPP’s Public Relations Officer, told reporters that the entire process is being mishandled.
By the last count, there have been six separate announcements of buyers and many opening dates. At every announcement, the former workers were told their just due will be prioritised.
“As early as September 2020 Sunwing pulled out of the deal; In December, a 300-million-dollar investment from Holland was identified. In May 2022, a prospective buyer who would invest 200 million dollars was announced. And then again in the same month, Elite Island Resorts was tipped to manage the hotel. In July Cabinet announced that the Barett group was no longer interested. On July 9, Gaston Browne declared government will purchase the property and turn it over to Apple Vacations. Were it not such a serious issue, with the lives of the patient staff literally at stake, it would be laughable,” Tabor said.
Furthermore, he said experts at the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority should instead take the lead in finding an investor to bring the resort back into operation.
“This Jolly Beach saga illustrates the need for a credible body to create a climate for bona fide investors as was demonstrated under a UPP leadership. The Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority provided such,” he added.
Tabor also questioned the arrangements with Apple Vacations and the 60-day timeline to reopen the hotel.
When the hotel closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, employees were owed millions of dollars in severance and outstanding pay.
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