CARIBBEAN-CPSO welcomes Sandals agreement with Royal Caribbean Group.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC -The CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) has welcomed the decision by the Jamaica-based Sandals Resort to agree with the US-based Royal Caribbean Group (RCL), noting that in an era of intensifying global market integration, the Caribbean cannot stand apart from the consolidation reshaping the international travel and hospitality industry.

“The choice before the region is whether its enterprises participate in that integration as owners and partners, or merely as hosts. Sandals has answered decisively, entering this new chapter with its Caribbean identity, leadership and headquarters intact, and with governance shared at the highest level,” said the CPSO, an Associate Institution of CARICOM, which represents the organized private sector in the governance of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

“Sandals is proof that the Caribbean produces not only world-class destinations but world-class companies. We congratulate Adam Stewart and his team, and we stand ready to work with them to ensure that this historic partnership translates into jobs, supply-chain opportunities and enduring prosperity for the people of our Community,” said CPSO.

Last Wednesday, Sandals Resorts announced the agreement to form a partnership in the all-inclusive resort space with RCL, making a 50 percent investment.

Under the terms of the agreement, Royal Caribbean Group will acquire a 50 percent equity interest in Sandals and Beaches Resorts for approximately three billion US dollars. Royal Caribbean Group has secured committed debt financing from Morgan Stanley to fund the investment.

The transaction is expected to close in early 2027, subject to customary approvals and closing conditions, and is expected to be accretive to earnings next year.

The CPSO said that this transaction, which implies a valuation of an estimated six billion US dollars “for a company conceived, built and headquartered in the Caribbean, is a defining moment for the regional private sector.

“It affirms what the CPSO has long maintained: that CARICOM enterprise, when permitted to scale across the Single Market and Economy, can command a place among the foremost names in global business.”

CPSO said that the late Gordon “Butch” Stewart founded Sandals on the conviction that a Caribbean company, a Caribbean Brand, could stand on the world stage.

It said that the partnership with RCL “is the emphatic vindication of that conviction, and a tribute to the stewardship of Adam Stewart and his team.

“For tourism, the region’s largest export sector and principal earner of foreign exchange, the partnership brings together two category-defining leaders: Sandals and Beaches Resorts, the Caribbean’s leading all-inclusive resort brands, and Royal Caribbean Group, with its global vacation platform.”

The CPSO said it anticipates that the combined reach of the two companies will expand visitor arrivals, lengthen stays, deepen airlift and cruise connectivity, and multiply demand across CARICOM destinations, including Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Sr. Lucia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

“For CARICOM and the CSME, the significance extends well beyond tourism. The partnership demonstrates the CSME working as intended: a regional firm using the Single Market as its platform for growth, attracting world-scale capital on world-scale terms. It is a powerful signal to international investors of the bankability of Caribbean assets, Caribbean management and Caribbean brands.

“The CPSO also sees in this development a renewed opportunity to deepen the linkages between tourism and regional production, in agriculture, agro-processing, manufacturing and services, so that the gains from expanded visitor demand are retained and multiplied within the Community.”