A New $1.5 Billion Caribbean Hotel Project

By: - March 22nd, 2016

The Caribbean has a new development hotspot: Antigua and Barbuda.

The twin-island country has signed another major development deal, this time a project by Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to Iraq, Ahmed Abbas Alewi, who is spearheading a major mixed-use development.

The project will be done in phases, with a total of investment of around $1.5 billion USD.

Located on 93 acres of Pensioner’s Beach in Antigua, the project will include a hotel luxury housing, a water park, an indoor mall including a movie theater, among other amenities.

Antigua Tourism Minister Asot Michael and

Antigua Tourism Minister Asot Michael and Ambassador Ahmed Abbas Alewi

In a statement, Antigua’s Tourism Ministry said it had held talks on the potential arrival of twice-weekly flights from Baghdad through a European gateway.

Alwei has proposed this himself, as he owns two Boeing 737 aircraft.

Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Minister Asot Michael called the agreement a “huge step toward increasing tourist arrivals from the Middle East and extending Antigua and Barbuda’s global reach.”

In the past several years, Antigua has signed more large-scale hotel development deals than any other country in the Caribbean — most recently, a landmark transformation of the historic Half Moon Bay property.

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