Country report: BVI - the tourism product beneath the business veneer

By Christine Oliver, general manager, British Virgin Islands Tourist Board

As a thriving financial centre, Road Town’s plethora of banks, lawyers, accountants and other smart offices of associated commercial enterprises might, at first sight, appear to dwarf its tourist attractions. But a visitor doesn’t have to look far to discover that the capital town’s business hustle and bustle actually sits very comfortably with a healthy, growing tourism product at the top end of the luxury hotel and sailing market.

And with so many islands to choose from it’s remarkably easy to take a short boat ride to a world where nobody cares if you’re Brad Pitt or Bill Gates and where you might bump into Sir Richard Branson or Morgan Freeman enjoying the anonymity that these islands offer them. Hideaway hotels and villas with luxurious spas and gourmet restaurants vie with world-class racing yachts and magnificent mega-yachts to tempt visitors to stay a while and enjoy some well deserved rest and relaxation. Within a very short time most people find the relaxed atmosphere of the BVIs soothes them into holiday mood, and soon they’re ‘limin’ (relaxing doing nothing in particular), and enjoying the varied attractions above and below the sea that bring many people back year after year.

Unspoilt and relatively uncommercialised, the BVIs can still safely call themselves ‘nature’s little secrets’ without fear of contradiction. And as you drive around Tortola and Virgin Gorda you can’t mistake where you are – many car number plates proudly displaying the now familiar advertising strapline.

The next five years promise to be very exciting ones in terms of tourism development for the BVIs, as several major new hotels and marinas are planned, together with the boom in land and property sales that is turning these idyllic islands into some of the most desirable real estate in the world.

Villa Paradiso

Scrub Island, just off Tortola, is the first of the new generation of properties to be built, targeted for completion in the spring of 2008. Developed by Mainsail Hotels, over 85 per cent of the properties for sale have already been reserved, with only a few two or three-bedroom villas still available. When complete the new resort will have a 65-slip full-service marina and five-star resort amenities including spa and health club, three beaches, eight pools, fine dining, retail village, wine and cigar bar, observatory, amphitheatre and two helipads. At the opposite end of Tortola, in the area known as West End, the BVI government recently signed a development agreement for the construction of a villa hotel on the hitherto deserted beach of Smugglers Cove. A long-time favourite for snorkelling with the locals as well as the villa owners in the hills behind on the Belmont Estate, Smugglers Cove will provide an idyllic setting for ‘Villa Paradisio Tortola’ as the project is to be known.

Under the development agreement Villa Paradisio plans to invest up to $50 million over a five year period, and after signing the agreement document, chief minister and minister for tourism, the Hon Dr Orlando Smith, reaffirmed his government’s promise: “Since coming to office this government has pledged to uplift the tourism industry and seek inward investments. We have been successful in doing so, and I am very glad that Villa Paradisio has selected Smuggler’s Cove as the place for their next major development.”

The first full 18-hole golf course is planned for another new development, this time on Beef Island. Also featuring a marina, spa, suites and villas, this new property will add yet another important dimension to the activities available for the tourist and business visitor.

Across the Sir Francis Drake Channel from Tortola, lies the second largest of the British Virgin Islands, Virgin Gorda. This is home to a number of five-star resorts and spacious luxury villas. At the northern tip of this island lies the Oil Nut Bay development, where two acre plots of land are available for luxury homes. Eventually a small resort and marina will follow.

Just around the corner from Oil Nut Bay is the water ‘playground’ of North Sound, Virgin Gorda. With the protection of two narrow channels on one side and a reef on the other, North Sound provides calm water for the abundance of water sports available. With over 100 boats for their use, guests staying at the Bitter End Yacht Club, which covers one mile of waterfront onto North Sound, can choose to sail small hobie cats, or lasers or 30ft. Freedoms. For snorkelling on the nearby reef, guests also have the use of motorised BostonWhalers, while the more adventurous might take up windsurfing, kiteboarding or scuba diving.

Biras Creek and beyond

Over the hill from the busier and livelier Bitter End, lies the tranquil Relais & Chateaux Resort of Biras Creek. Popular with visiting yachts people for dinner, the romantic Biras Creek restaurant serves world-class international cuisine with a Caribbean flavour – and has one of the best wine cellars in the region. With only 31 suites Biras Creek describes itself as ‘rustic chic’ and appeals to those looking for a relaxing hideaway. Also offering its guests the use of motorised Boston Whalers, a short boat ride will take you to the bar and restaurant set on an island in the middle of North Sound called Saba Rock – or to the Sandbox beach bar, the only building on the National Park island of Prickly Pear.

Hiding behind Prickly Pear is Branson’s Necker Island, out-of-bounds to the Boston Whaler brigade, but in something bigger – or with a telescopic lense – you might catch a glimpse of a Douglas, Pitt or Spielberg, some minor European royals – or even senior UK royals!

Everything on North Sound is only accessible by boat, but from Gun Creek the road leads south over Gorda Peak to the main town known as both The Valley and Spanish Town –and on to the most famous BVI landmark, the beach known as The Baths. Landscaped with huge boulders and creating a natural adventure trail of rock pools, no visitor should miss the climb, walk or swim through the Baths to Devil’s Bay and back again.

Sitting in colourfully-cultivated grounds just behind Spanish Town is the Rosewood Resort of Little Dix Bay. Probably the most famous of the BVI hotels, it was also the first international resort built there by Lawrence Rockefeller in the early 1960s. Having recently completed a $25m enhancement programme, Little Dix now features a world class cliff top spa, new spacious suites, tennis courts, fitness room as well as several luxurious hillside villas. Looking to encourage more families to the resort, Little Dix also has a large children’s centre – an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of toys, games, Wendy-houses, dressing-up clothes, computers and much, much more, catering for children of all ages.

Privacy on Peter Island

With some 60 islands, islets and cays in the chain, there’s enough space for everyone to find themselves a deserted beach or even a deserted island. At
the private island resort of Peter Island, guests can even book themselves a private beach for a day. Staff will take them to one of the many beaches away from the resort area, bring them a full picnic and then come and pick them up later. And they can be guaranteed not to be disturbed for the whole day. With only 54 rooms and two luxury villas, guests can be private and secluded in Peter Island’s 1300 acres, or can enjoy the facilities of two restaurants, poolside bar, beach water sports and a magnificent shore side spa. Just across the Sir Francis Drake Channel from Tortola, Peter Island runs a regular ferry service to and from Road Town and welcomes day visitors to the Spa or for lunch and dinner.

Regarded as the sailing capital of the Caribbean, if not of the world, the BVIs have attracted yachts people for many years, long before even the first hotels were built. The geography of the territory and ease of sailing from island to island means enjoying warm tradewinds with little need for complicated navigation. The waters provide ideal conditions for anyone from novice sailors to qualified yachtmasters, which explains the growth of the Bareboat charter industry – the BVIs being home to Moorings and Sunsail’s largest fleets in the Caribbean, as well as the newer players in the market like Horizon, Voyage and the power boat charter company Virgin Traders.

If you don’t want to sail yourself, preferring to sip champagne on the deck of a luxury yacht with a skipper and chef, then the crewed yachts based in the BVIs, both sail and power, range from 50ft for two people to 80ft or more for a group. They also offer gourmet food and wine on a sailing tour that can take you to secret coves and hidden beaches inaccessible by any other means.

Wherever visitors go – and whatever they do in the British Virgin Islands – one thing they will always see is breathtakingly spectacular scenery. Turning 360-degrees will throw up view after view after view, and it will all be beautiful.

For an information pack please see www.bvitourism.co.uk, or call 0207 355 9585.