BARBADOS, W.I. – Oct.15, 2004 – Sandy Lane Hotel is solidly booked for the rest of the year and for the first two months of 2005. Speaking to the media on the development general manager Colm Hannon said this was partly due to the recent staging of the wedding of golfing sensation Tiger Woods there last Tuesday.

NBA superstars Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were among the guests. “So you can see what sort of spin-off we have had and the challenge that we have had is that the hotel is almost full between now and for the rest of the month, and it is unknown how much bookings we would have converted had we had more space.

“The hope is that we can transfer these bookings to other hotels which may not be that busy,” he added. Hannon said they expected a busy Winter season with November and December booked solid.

He added that one market which showed the most potential was Scandinavia. Since the hotel reopened in 2001, the general manager said, a lot of “behind-the-scenes work” had been ongoing, especially in the golfing market.

Hannon described the golfing market in that European country as huge, with the capacity to generate over US$500 million in out-bound golf business. He said the Tiger Woods’ wedding was the most high profile event to be hosted at the hotel in its four years of existence, adding the hotel was fortunate to have been chosen.

The Sandy Lane boss said Barbados was featured prominently in the Scandinavian Press as well as in London where, according to reports out of the Barbados Tourism Authority office, many whole-page and half-page articles about Barbados were written.

“It is just phenomenal advertising at a time when we most need it and as you know the Caribbean has had a tough time in terms of hurricanes and storms and people’s geography about the Caribbean is not good.”

Hannon continued: “I couldn’t think of a better way to put us on the map and hopefully Barbados will benefit and other Caribbean destinations will also benefit.”