The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A US-based underwater attraction developer is in talks with Blue Diamond Resorts over creating an artificial reef world at its Grand Lucayan hotel property, an executive telling Tribune Business yesterday it was “very keen” on developing its product in the Bahamas.

Reef Worlds is aiming to ramp up the introduction of its new underwater worlds at all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, thanks to its new $4.5 million development budget.

Mike Wallace, Reef Worlds’ director of development,told Tribune Business that the $4.5 million should cover 10-15 hotels. He then revealed that the company was in talks with Blue Diamond Resorts, which has taken over the 503-room Reef Village at Freeport’s Grand Lucayan, with the goal of re-opening it later this year following extensive upgrades.

Mr Wallace also disclosed that Reef Worlds was in talks with a Nassau-hotel on a similar venture, but declined to reveal its name.

“We are looking to expand what we do dramatically by year’s end,” he told Tribune Business. “The relationship with Blue Diamond is in its initial stages. We are still trying to work out the final details on that and we will see how that turns out.

“We are interested in getting as many large chain resorts as possible interested in this. Blue Diamond is a very powerful entity in itself, and they have quite a few attractive other properties that we are interested in, in the Dominican Republic, a couple in Jamaica, as well as Cancun. We are keen on doing something in the Bahamas, though, it’s our second home. We do a lot of work in the Bahamas with film and television production.”

Mr Wallace explained that Reef Worlds was looking to partner with Caribbean resorts and introduce its new underwater worlds in a bid to help them grow market share and increase customer satisfaction.

He said the underwater developments would be undertaken with no upfront costs to the hotels, and added that a recent study had shown guests felt more positive about a resort after participating in a dive-style experience.

“We’re actually bucking the trend here by a couple of years, putting ourselves out there and trying to gauge who is interested. It’s a great deal with no money upfront,” Mr Wallace said.

He added: “We construct for two different client bases. The first is the environment. We take areas that are in disrepair and we design underwater worlds specifically for the environment. The second client base, obviously with the shapes, forms and worlds we are putting down, is designed for tourism. It’s a beautiful intersection between art and science. Ideally what we would like to do is see every site we have be a boost to the natural environment.”

Mr Wallace said of the 10-15 properties that Reef Worlds hopes to partner with: “These are anywhere from one-two acre sites we are building. They are designed for diving, snorkelling, glass bottom kayaks, you name it.

“Most resorts in the Caribbean have used up all of the land they have. The message we are giving is that they have acres of property outside their waterfront which they haven’t been paying attention to for the last 40 years, and in that time that waterfront has really suffered. You have to look at the ocean almost as a garden. Resorts spend a lot of money on their landscaping but they don’t really consider anything past the high tide mark.”