Rum Cay Resort Marina, a $700 million mixed-use resort development project, has broken ground on Rum Cay, Bahamas, located 165 miles southeast of Nassau and 40 miles east of Great Exuma. The island, nine miles long and five miles wide, is inhabited by less than 100 islanders and is reachable by charter flights via numerous carriers from Fort Lauderdale or via Cat Island Air from Nassau.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced an agreement has been reached with BBP Partners, LLC of Puerto Rico, to build a new St. Regis Resort and Residences at Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico, an exclusive private development destined to become one of the Caribbean´s finest resort and residential communities. The resort is slated for a 2008 opening. “St. Regis is focused on building the world´s most exclusive and luxurious properties in the finest locations around the world. When it opens, the resort will introduce an unrivaled dimension of luxury and bespoke hospitality to Puerto Rico,” said Kerry Hatch, President of St. Regis.

Cathy Parsons, CEO of Green Globe Asia Pacific and GGAP International, and Sir Royston Hopkins, Chairman of the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, today announced the winners of the first Caribbean Green Globe Awards. Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort in Aruba has won the Award for Best Overall Green Globe business in recognition of its most outstanding benchmarked results.

El Cid La Ceiba Beach Hotel will open the Cocai Spa & Wellness Center on June 10. The full-service Cocai Spa takes its name from the ancient Maya word for “firefly.” The spa´s Maya-inspired Temazcal treatment purifies with steam rising from a small, round, adobe-brick chamber that lights up like a firefly. Inside the chamber are red-hot volcanic stones.

The Palmyra Resort & Spa at Rose Hall has proven that the renaissance on Jamaica´s Gold Coast is in full swing, as reservation holders from around the world flew into Montego Bay in May. The premier luxury beachfront community reached $100 million in sales for its high-end villas and residences, resulting in the complete sellout of the community´s Sabal Palm building and a significant number of residences in the Silver Palm building from the development´s first phase offering.

Hilton Hotels Corporation plans to build a 1,000-room Hilton and a 500-room Waldorf-Astoria at Bonnet Creek, a resort development adjacent to the Walt Disney World Resort. Construction of the project is currently in the design phase and is on schedule to break ground by the end of 2006 and to open in the summer of 2009.