The presence of the Radisson hotel chain in Barbados promises to open up Barbados to new tourism markets in Europe and Latin America, a senior official has said.
Roland Mouly, speaking at the opening of Radisson Aquatica Resort Barbados last week, expressed excitement at the prospects for the further promotion of the island as he envisaged the new hotel becoming “one of the premier Radissons” in the Caribbean.
Mouly is Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group’s vice-president for development for the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America. Carlson Rezidor is a management company that operates the Radisson brand.
“One of the things that we know we are going to bring to Barbados is the ability to drive some business from some of the field markets. We are very big in Latin America, we have a number of Radissons there,” Mouly said.
“We see some business coming to the Caribbean from that region and this is something that we want to work with the hotel, with Barbados’ tourism; and to bring business from Europe where Radissonis a premier hotel.”
The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group includes more than 1 300 hotels across a global footprint spanning more than 81 countries.
Radisson Aquatic Barbados Resort was originally built as a Holiday Inn Hotel in 1965 on the site of the former Aquatic Club.
The hotel, redesigned by local and foreign architects and renovated at a cost of $16 million, now offers 124 rooms.
The beach front property is the first Radisson in theEnglish-speaking Caribbean and is owned by the Trinidad company Grand Hotel Limited whose managing director is Atef Nicholas. Christopher Forbes is the new general manager. (GC)
