While it has a permanent population of just under 402,000 people, the island nation of The Bahamas sees many millions of visitors pass through its shores in any given year.
Between 2022 and 2023, the number of international arrivals increased from 7 million to just under 10 million.
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These include both cruise passengers, who typically spend a port stop strolling around the capital, Nassau, and sailors taking a broader tour of the Caribbean (the Bahamas is made up of more than 700 islands in total). and high-income travelers would typically hunker down in an especially remote area, away from prying eyes.
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Stretching 37 miles long and seven miles wide, Great Exuma isn't as visited or well-known as Nassau, Grand Bahama and Bimini, but it has always attracted a luxury-seeking crowd.
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These luxury hotels target a different type of Bahamian traveler
Sandals Beaches International, which for years operated a large resort in Exuma, closed it last August to renovate and expand it under its Beaches Resorts brand.
As the Sandals brand is most commonly associated with couples travel, the intention is to make it marketable to those looking for a luxury family trip.
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“Exuma was made for families and with more than 6,000 feet of shoreline, the new Beaches Exuma will be a gateway to discovering the unparalleled beauty of this part of The Bahamas,” Adam Stewart of Sandals Resorts International said in a statement announcing the expansion. .
The company also added that this is one step in a broader plan to “significantly expand its presence throughout the Caribbean” that includes the recently opened Sandals resorts in Curacao and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Another hotel chain that has recently announced a massive project in Exuma is Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. In August, the Dallas-based luxury resort chain broke ground on a $200 million project to build the 33-suite Rosewood Exuma spa and wellness resort on a small private island known as East Sampson Cay.
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'Spectacular views of the island's white and pink sands and turquoise waters'
The resort, which will be designed to open to the island's white and pink sand beach and will include everything from an outdoor fitness center to a 20,000-square-foot spa, is currently scheduled to open in 2028.
There will also be a beach club where visitors from the other islands that make up Exuma or even other parts of The Bahamas can sail to during the day.
To finance the massive development, Rosewood is working with Miami-based investment firm Yntegra, which has also financed projects such as the Turtle Bungalow floating hotel in the Exuma area. Meanwhile, Rosewood currently has luxury beach resorts in Nassau, Bermuda, St. Barths and the British Virgin Islands.
“Situated on a 124-acre private island, Rosewood Exuma marks the brand’s latest expansion into the Caribbean,” Rosewood says of the project. “Located amid a pristine archipelago of 365 islands in the Bahamas, the private retreat will consist of just 33 suites, each offering spectacular views of the island's white and pink sands and turquoise waters, with several of them will be located directly on the beach.”
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