Jamaica has long been associated with beauty, luxury and style, so it is no surprise that it has been selected as the host destination for the World Travel Awards Caribbean & Americas ceremony set to take place on October 19.

As a nominee for ten World Travel Awards this year - including World’s Leading Destination and World’s Leading Tourist Board - some of the most famous and luxurious hotels in the world can be found on this idyllic Caribbean island.

GoldenEye, The Half Moon, Strawberry Hill and Round Hill are amongst some of the top properties in Jamaica, all of which have been nominated for prestigious World Travel Awards.

Olympic pool at the Half Moon

This year RockResort’s Half Moon will compete with other leading properties for the title of “Caribbean’s Leading Hotel”.

GoldenEye – nominated for Caribbean’s Leading Boutique Resort – has recently opened 11 new luxury beach cottages and lagoon suites, owned by Island Records icon Chris Blackwell.

GoldenEye

Meanwhile Montego Bay’s Round Hill - which has been nominated for five World Travel Awards including World’s Leading Villa and Jamaica’s Leading Spa an recently revealed its impressive list of ‘notable guests’ who have stayed at the property including John F Kennedy, Sir Paul McCartney, Fred Astaire and Tommy Hilfiger.

Round Hill

Jamaica is also home to a number of all-inclusive properties that have tapped into the luxury market in recent months.

The newest All-Inclusive group to open in Jamaica is the 5 star Secrets St James & Secrets Wild Orchid resorts offers adults-only the exclusive amenities of Unlimited-Luxury®, where everything is included.

Meanwhile Sandals Resorts, which first opened its doors 30 years ago, continues to innovate with its own luxury offering - Sandals Luxury Included Holidays.

This year, Sandals Royal Caribbean Resort & Private Island will play host to the World Travel Awards Americas & Caribbean gala ceremony.

The ceremony, hailed as the the ‘Oscars of the travel industry’ by the global media, is set to attract the top decision-makers and thought leaders from across the Americas and Caribbean as they compete for the most influential accolades in travel.

Gordon “Butch” Stewart, Chairman of Sandals Resorts explains: “At Sandals Resorts, we come from the region, we understand the communities, we understand the quality of the beaches and we understand the services and standards that the customer now demands.”

“As we celebrate 30 years of providing luxury vacations that exceed expectations, I can say that we are delighted to showcase those services and amenities to the travel industry once again this year.” 

Maridol Ortiz Perez, Group Sales Manager , Casa de Campo, Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica, Ramel Sobrino, General Manager, Sandals Royal Hicacos, Sandals Resorts and Beaches, collecting their awards during the Americas & Caribbean gala ceremony in 2010

In order to accommodate elite, high end travellers, a new VIP lounge has opened in in Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport – which has been nominated for World’s Leading Airport and Caribbean’s Leading Airport. The 10,000 sq foot ‘Club Mobay’ lounge aims to showcases the best of Jamaica through cultural design and visual displays.

The Caribbean & The Americas Ceremony marks the fifth and final leg of World Travel Awards 2011 Grand Tour, and follows heats in Dubai, UAE; Antalya, Turkey; Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt; and Bangkok, Thailand. Regional winners from these events then progress to the Grand Final in Doha, Qatar in November.

The event partners are Sandals Resorts, BBC World News and WeClickMedia, while media partners include National Geographic Traveller, eTurboNews, Focus on Travel News, Breaking Travel News, JaxFax and Travel Daily News.

For more info about World Travel Awards 2011 Caribbean & The Americas Ceremony & bookings visit: http://www.worldtravelawards.com/americas2011

To find out what else is happening in Jamaica and Montego Bay, why not visit jamaica.city.mobi
or montegobay.mobi.