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SANDALS RESORTS SPONSORS WEST INDIES CRICKET TEAM IN CRICKET WORLD CUP 2019

15th April 2019: Sandals Resorts International (SRI) continues its sponsorship of the West Indies Cricket Team as they aim to win the ICC Cricket World Cup for the third time. The tournament kicks off on May 30, 2019 at the Oval in London.

Running for just over six weeks, the ICC Cricket World Cup brings together 10 teams from across the world. 

Sandals Resorts, one of the Caribbean’s most iconic brands, has had a longstanding relationship with the West Indies cricket team having sponsored tours to the UK in 1995, 2000 and 2004. The latest sponsorship, which began in 2018, supports the Men’s Senior Team, the Women’s Team, the Men’s A Team, the U19 Team & the U15 Team. As part of the agreement, the Sandals Resorts logo will be featured on the team’s kit during the tournament. 

Managing Director of Unique Vacations UK Ltd., representatives of Sandals and Beaches Resorts in the UK and Europe, Karl Thompson, said “It’s fantastic to be a part of such a huge event, especially as it returns to the UK for the first time in a decade. Sandals Resorts has come a long way since then and it’s a great opportunity to showcase our ever-growing brand on the global stage.”

The Cricket World Cup runs from 30th May to 14th July 2019 with matches held at venues across the UK. The final will take place at Lords cricket ground in London. 

Agents can book by calling the call centre on 0808 164 3459 or Agency Sales General enquiries on 0207 590 0210. For more information about Sandals Resorts please visit www.sellingsandals.co.uk

ISLE BE BACK

In 2017, the ferocity of hurricane Irma’s 200+mph winds devastated 85 per cent of the buildings on the palm-trimmed British Virgin Islands (BVI) – the most powerful for 400 years. The recovery has been remarkable.

When Irma wreaked its havoc on the British Virgin Islands (BVI) on Sept 6 2017, it razed buildings to the ground, destroyed boats in sheltered anchorages and ripped up giant palm trees and sent them barrelling across the landscape. Renowned for its unabashed luxury, the BVI has long been a billionaires’ playground yet even so the road to recovery looked long and arduous with many of the multi-million-dollar real estate developments sustaining major damage.

But not so.

It seems that Irma has done little to put off investors buying on the third-largest island of the British Overseas Territory, where a strong sense of community has intensified since Irma’s battering. Rugged, raw and extremely striking: the BVI’s unique and characterful terrain, bloom-filled and green, continues to prove utterly seductive. The availability of freehold purchase of land for foreigners, and the lack of corruption, remains unchanged – a huge reason why buyers are still choosing to invest in the BVI.

There is encouraging news for tourism too. A Government-funded runway extension project means flights from Europe will become easier with reports that the airport authority has approved new flights there from New York, Miami, Atlanta and Charlotte, widely welcomed. A total of 219,296 visitors arrived in the islands during the first 10 months of 2018, according to the BVI Tourist Board – a lower, but steadily increasing figure that, admittedly, still has some

way to go to reach the previous year’s 746,419 total. However, infrastructure upgrades have bolstered confidence, with key improvements to the Road Town Ferry Terminal making it easier for visitors to use the BVI’s main port of entry in its capital. There has also been restoration works to return Guana Island’s famous orchard to its former glory and enhancements to the Scrub Island resort. Entry level properties at Scrub Island have a $1 million price tag, and sales are brisk: proof that the appetite for homes on the BVI is far from dampened. At the high-end, properties on BVI continue to compare favourably with its more expensive Caribbean islands

–$5 million on BVI buys a top whack home close to yachting facilities. Oil Nut Bay, on Virgin Gorda, for example, is reached only by boat or helicopter so has the castaway feeling of a decadent private isle. Apart from entertaining, socialising and boating, an active community are keen kayakers, hikers and snorkelers. Nearby, upscale North Sound includes the private islands of Necker (owned by Richard Branson) and Eustatia (believed to be owned by Larry

Page, co-founder of Google). After Irma hit, hundreds of people formed working parties to clear debris strewn across pristine beaches and bluffs. Since then, the BVI’s Recovery and Development Agency has agreed to offer British guarantees for construction across the islands, which is good news for the buyers of new properties. The buying process has also become quicker due to a reduction in red tape, cutting the time it takes to purchase to just 90 days.

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SIR RICHARD BRANSON BEAMS AS VIRGIN ROCKET REACHES SPACE

In a breakthrough which looks set to propel the future of transit into exciting realms, Sir Richard Branson has revealed that his biggest, boldest project to date, Virgin Galactic, has achieved space-age travel that looks set to scale new heights.

At a swanky reception in the space-themed lobby of the Museum of Natural History, Branson was clearly thrilled at his empire’s latest interstellar adventures. He beamed fromear-to-ear as high-tech video clips captured Virgin Galactic’s multi-billion-dollar spacecraft taking off, gaining altitude, and then dropping its middle hull section to magicallytransform into a spaceship before our eyes. To pumping high-octane rock anthems, Branson looked visibly moved as he watched his ship journey out of Earth’s atmosphere. Later,he suggested that the estimated launch date of his much-publicized inaugural passenger service, could run as early as spring 2019. Branson’s project has been hit by a series ofdelays - yet he remains typically upbeat about Virgin Galactic’s vision of transportation. What next? I guess we’ll have to watch this space.

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I WISH TO CONGRATULATE THE PUBLISHER RAY CARMEN AND CARIBBEAN WORLD MAGAZINE ON ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY. IT'S A BRILLIANT MAGAZINE!