FirstCaribbean International Bank has provided the senior debt component of a US$70M package of funding to an affiliate of Westmont Hospitality Group for the acquisition, renovation and expansion of the Fairmont Royal Pavilion Hotel in Barbados. A FirstCaribbean release quotes Roger Best, manager, corporate finance and corporate banking hospitality industry Read more…
I remain quite intrigued by the RIU construction woes in St. James, near Rose Hall, on a little-used strip of the pristine Mahoe Bay beach on Jamaica’s scenic north shore. There is speculation of conspiracy with a local official to circumvent the strict building code that limited to three floors Read more…
The Caribbean Tourism Development Company (CTDC) has announced the first Annual Caribbean Tourism Summit (ACTS) that will bring together leaders from the political, tourism and investment communities and the Diaspora. A Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) release says ACTS will take place at the International Trade Center at the Ronald Reagan Read more…
The history of intermarriages between locals and foreign traders has allowed a coastal family to consist of parents and children who look like typical Afrikans with dark skin, flared nostrils and tightly coiled hair while in the same family will be others with complexions close to that of a Caucasian Read more…
The Japanese are famous for many things; cars, computers and even bio technology. And yet how a society that has so much red tape became so efficient is almost a mystery. Picture it, Sicily 1923 ……. Oops sorry wrong country, definitely wrong time line. Picture it, Honshu 2007 you walk Read more…
One of the wonderful things about living in Ghana is that Ghanaians, like other people of Afrikan descent, are food loving people. The mere sight of a Ghanaian enjoying a meal could tempt any stanch anorexic to promptly regain her appetite. Those who know me also know I would feel Read more…
It was a Saturday in December and I was on my way to Masai country—Kenya. I left Toronto at 6pm, and boarded the plane for the six hour flight to Amsterdam. I spent all of Sunday in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport before getting on Kenya Airways for the eight hour flight Read more…