This year, 2022, the construction of two state-built hotels will begin in earnest. Minister of Finance Camilo Gonsalves says under Budget 2022, the government plans to spend $43.4 million on the construction of two hotels in Diamond and Mt. Wynne.
“The Holiday Inn Express at Diamond is already underway. Civil works, including drainage and access roads, were completed in 2021.
Construction of the hotel building itself will begin in the first quarter. Crucially, the Holiday Inn Express will not serve as simply an airport and business hotel, or as a venue for visiting athletes to utilise our world-class track, but it will also serve as an important teaching institution, given its across-the-street proximity to the Hospitality Training Institute at Diamond”.
The commencement of civil works on the Marriot Resort in Mt. Wynne was also scheduled for 2021, however, Gonsalves said they were delayed by both COVID and necessary redesigns.
“The Government obtained a US$50 million soft loan from Taiwan to fund the construction of the resort. However, the costings of the original design provided by the project architects were too far in excess of our funding, particularly in light of increased post-Pandemic construction costs.
As such, we requested that the project be redesigned to reduce costs. That redesign, in turn, was delayed by the Pandemic, and the inability of our international architects to visit the site. Thankfully, those issues are being resolved”.
Gonsalves stated that the Holiday Inn Express and the Marriott Resort will add a much-needed 342 rooms to our hotel capacity.
“The hotels will not only help to attract more tourists and airlift to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, but they will continue to draw more private investment to the country, as the hospitality sector recognises the seriousness with which the Government views tourism growth and expanding room stock”, Gonsalves said.
