Grace Bay Resorts Principal and Chief Operating Officer Nikheel Advani said he foresees a bright future for his company, as well as tourism in the Turks and Caicos. That optimism is driven by how far both have come in just the past two years.
During the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, the borders of Turks and Caicos — a group of Caribbean islands that are collectively a British territory — were temporarily closed to the rest of the world, he said.
"There were five months or so where we had to lock down the islands due to medical capacity," Advani said. "It didn't matter what we did, said or otherwise. We needed to up the medical capacity to match global standards. That was sort of our biggest barrier to opening. We had great support from the CDC and the U.K., and that helped us out quite a bit."
Two years later, the company and the territory both have had their best year ever in 2022. Advani said both travel trends and continually improving airlift give him long-term optimism.
"Looking into the crystal ball, unless something changes, we're looking to have an incredible 2023," he said, adding demand to Turks and Caicos and the Grace Bay portfolio remain more resilient because they're on the "super high end of things."
When Advani started at Grace Bay in the early 2000s, the company only had a single property — its flagship Grace Bay Club. Now it has four resorts — the newest is the Rock House — with a fifth called South Bank slated to open in the first quarter of 2023.
He said that expansion has helped the company elevate its offerings significantly.
"It allows us to offer our guests various different styles of products in the luxury sector," he said.
For more from HNN's interview with Grace Bay Resorts' Nikheel Advani, watch the video above.
On Dec. 13 story was clarified on the best performance year for Grace Bay Resorts and timing of the opening of South Bank.