Sandals responds to 'untruths'

Sandals Resorts International (SRI) has described as a “fable” the claim that its guests remain at their resorts, saying thousands venture daily into the nearby communities on tours or for shopping and dining excursions.

In an e-mailed statement, the multi-national hotel chain also described as a “fallacy” that everything at it resorts was imported, saying local food and supplies are sourced from the respective islands.

In a recent statement, Naparima MP Rodney Charles advised Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to “have an earnest chat with Barbados’ Mia Mottley” regarding Sandals as the “all-inclusive tourism model has failed our region miserably.”

Charles’ statement was echoed by UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar who, at a public meeting, said the respective island economies had not benefitted from Sandals.

"Not a cent goes back to you. They lock off the beach. Tourists are locked in an enclave and not coming out to buy even a mammy apple," she had said.