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Business View Caribbean
Bay Gardens
For the perfect vacation in paradise
St. Lucia is a small island nation in the Eastern Carib-
bean. Today, the country, part of the British Common-
wealth, is a world-renowned tourist destination, known
for its quiet, volcanic beaches, quaint fishing villages
and the majestic Piton Mountains. For many years,
though, St. Lucia had been a mostly agricultural-based
society, exporting bananas to the United Kingdom and
Europe. However, due to competition from lower-cost
Latin American banana producers and reduced Euro-
pean Union trade preferences, the industry began to
decline.
It was under this set of circumstances, in the early
1990s, that two former school teachers, Joyce and
Desmond Destang, consolidated their earnings from
a fabric store and several residential and commercial
real estate interests, and bought a property in Rodney
Bay, on the northern end of the island. At the time,
there was not a lot of activity there and only a few ho-
tels. But the couple decided that since tourism to the
island was beginning to increase, the timing was right
to get into the business. So, in 1994, they founded
the original 45-room, Bay Gardens Hotel. The couple
entrusted the operations of the property to another
dynamic couple, Berthia and Johnny Parle, industry
veterans and long time family friends who were hired
as the General Manager and Food and Beverage Man-
ager, respectively.
