KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent — This country has made another international media entity’s list of places to visit in 2012, bringing to at least three the number of such listings in the past two weeks.
The internationally-renowned New York Times on Friday listed St. Vincent 17th among “the 45 places to go in 2012”.
The island was directly behind Florence, Italy and ahead of Moganshan, China and was the only English-speaking Caribbean country to make this list.
Havana, the Cuban capital [which] is once again within Americans’ reach”, was 10th while the Dominican Republic’s Samaná Peninsula, which has “unspoiled beaches, but not for long” was 35th.
They two Spanish-speaking nations were the only other Caribbean destinations to make the list, which was topped by Panama and included Space, “the new frontier” at number 20.
The New York Times said that the fact that American Airlines does not fly to St. Vincent could explain why it remains “among the Caribbean’s best-kept secrets”.
The publication described the destination as “a stunningly lush, unspoiled gem of an island surrounded by water cerulean enough to render that of other islands murky by comparison.
“What there is here — a climbable volcano, dramatic waterfalls, black-sand beaches — is dwarfed by what there isn’t: chain stores, crowds, big hotels”.
It describes as “one notably new exception” the five-star Buccament Bay Resort, which “boasts more rooms, about 360, than all other hotels on the island combined”.
The New York Times said that the resort “may put this Caribbean island on the map”.
“The resort, along with a new international airport that is scheduled to open in late 2013 and designed to handle five times the number of passengers currently arriving at the island, will most likely let the cat out of the bag and attract the long overdue crowds. Get there before they do,” the publication said.
The latest New York Times ranking comes in the wake of a 2,800-word feature headlined “Bequia: Getting Away From the Getaways” in November 2011.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines is fifth among nine destinations on CNN’s “World’s top destinations for 2012” and third among 12 destinations listed by Travel+Leisure.