Grace Bay Beach retaining its position as second to none, has once again copped the most prestigious and fiercely vied for title as World’s Best Beach.
This was the announcement amongst roars of applause at the World Travel Awards Grand Final Gala, held at the magnificent La Cigale Hotel in Doha Qatar last evening, which brings to an end the 2013 World Tour in honour of the 20th Anniversary for the World Travel Awards.
As a nominee in the World’s Leading Beach Destination Category, the world-reknown beaches of Grace Bay was one of nine hopefuls for the coveted title in the October 2013 voting season of the World Travel Awards. Among them were the romantic shores of Cancun, Mexico, the DECO allure of South Beach in Florida and the azure waters along the coastline of Zanzibar, Tanzania in East Africa. However, it was the crystal turquoise waters and pristine white sandy shores of our multi-award-winning Grace Bay Beach that rose to be the best of the best.
Not to be outdone, and also walking away as one of the world’s best, was The Regent Palms Resort, which brought home the title of World’s Leading Hotel Spa 2013, and ending a three year-long record for Mardan Spa in Antalya, Turkey, and it was no surprise when Beaches Resort and Spa received World’s leading All Inclusive Family Resort Brand, a title they have held for fourteen years since 1998, with the exception of 2009 and 2010.
Premier and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing remarked, “I am indeed proud as the Premier and Minister of Tourism with the awards that our spectacular Grace Bay Beach has received over the years. We as a people and as a country have done a lot to promote the Tourism product that we have to offer here in the Turks and Caicos Islands and it is fitting, and indeed rewarding, that the accolades received are from the very agencies that we are dependent upon to sell our destination to the world.
As we continue push our product as a world class high-end luxury tourist destination, my government has begun the development of policies and legislation to also diversify our tourism industry towards medical tourism as well as eco-tourism. Our state of the art medical facilities and the unspoilt beauty of the marsh lands and cave systems make this a very real possibility. So we are really excited about things to come and I must recognize and congratulate The Regent Palms, Beaches Resort and Spa, and all other nominees who were winners in the different categories throughout 2013, for their contribution in building and maintaining our hospitality sector and thus ensuring that Turks and Caicos is Beautiful by Nature, not just to us, but to the world.”
The World Travel Awards, dubbed the “Oscars of the Travel Industry”, recently held voting for the nominees in the World’s Best categories for the crème de la crème of airlines, resorts, beaches and all other sectors of the Tourism industry.
The Turks and Caicos Islands took home the title in the WTA World’s Leading Beach category in 2012 and held its position this year, making it the seventh win in this category. The country also boasts five distinctions in the Caribbean’s Leading Beach category, the most recent being awarded at a Gala event in September 2013 at Sandals Grande Resort and Spa in Antigua.
Recognition of the Turks and Caicos Islands as a world-class luxury tourism destination was also received, with some of our top Resort and Spa Brands being nominated in other major World Leading categories. The Grace Bay Club was nominated in four major categories, World’s Leading All Suite Hotel, World’s Leading Luxury All Suite Hotel and World’s Leading Hotel Residences. In addition to The Regent Palms vying for the title won, it also received nominations for World’s Leading Luxury Resort and World’s Leading Spa Resort.
Other nominees were Parrot Cay Resort and Beach Villa 2 at Amanyara for World’s Leading Spa and World’s Leading Villa, respectively.
