LISTEN: New Jolly Beach Plan Would Preserve 200 Rooms While Creating Site for Luxury Hotel

Government Unveils New Jolly Beach Redevelopment Plan to Preserve Jobs and Tourism

The government has abandoned the idea of selling the entire Jolly Beach Resort and instead plans to pursue a hybrid redevelopment that would preserve part of the property while setting aside land for a major new hotel investment, Prime Minister Gaston Browne announced Saturday.

Browne said the revised strategy was developed after several international hotel brands expressed interest in acquiring the beachfront property, with some proposing to demolish the existing resort and construct an entirely new development.

Instead, the government now intends to retain approximately 200 rooms at Jolly Beach while carving out about 20 acres of land for a private investor capable of financing a major tourism project.

“We’ve developed a new concept now,” Browne said during his weekly Pointe FM programme. “We will separate 200 rooms, break down 150, and that will help us to create 20 acres of greenfield land, which we’re prepared to give a private investor to develop.”

According to Browne, Hilton recently expressed interest in the property, while officials from Club Med travelled to Antigua last week seeking at least 20 acres of beachfront land for a new resort.

“They want all of it, and they’re thinking about tearing it down and building a completely new hotel. That doesn’t help us,” Browne said.

He said allowing the entire hotel to be demolished would leave the country without one of its largest tourism properties for several years while construction takes place, resulting in substantial economic losses.

Browne noted that Jolly Beach currently accommodates approximately 75,000 visitors annually and generates significant revenue through airport head taxes, hotel profits and visitor spending.

“Our Airport Authority makes about $20 million a year in head taxes as a result of all those tourists,” he said. “Then you’re going to lose another $4 million or $5 million in profits. That’s $25 million. Then the spending in the economy, the different things they buy when they’re here, the taxi drivers and so on who are benefiting—you may be losing probably about $30 million to $35 million a year easily.”

If redevelopment of the entire property were to take five years, Browne said the cumulative loss to the economy could exceed EC$100 million.

“If you lose $35 million and whichever developer decides that it’s going to take them five years to develop the property, you can do the math. If we lose over $100 million, our tourism product will fall. That’s just not helpful,” he said.

Under the proposed plan, the government would retain ownership of approximately 67 acres of the property, including the remaining hotel rooms, allowing Jolly Beach to continue welcoming visitors while construction of a new luxury resort proceeds on the adjacent site.

The prime minister said preserving a functioning hotel would protect hundreds of jobs while maintaining visitor arrivals and government revenue.

“We’re still interested in transferring Jolly Beach, at least a portion of it, to Social Security,” Browne said, adding that maintaining 200 rooms would allow the property to continue generating income during the redevelopment process.

Browne said the 20-acre parcel would be marketed to a large international developer capable of investing between US$150 million and US$200 million in a new resort.

“This is not for small individuals trying to develop a little portion of the land,” he said. “This is for a large investor who can come in with probably about US$150 million to US$200 million.”

He said the revised concept balances the government’s desire to attract new investment with the need to protect employment, preserve tourism activity and safeguard public revenue.

“All those factors, we have decided not to sell it,” Browne said. “So we can save Jolly Beach.”

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