By Paul Homewood
h/t Dennis Ambler
From the “Independent?”:
Does anybody look forward to that last day of holiday? The one where you’re kicked out of your fancy resort before noon, and then spend the rest of the day waiting for your transfer? Or the one where you spend the day at the beach and then have to sit on a flight with sand stuck in places it shouldn’t be?
It’ll come as no surprise that Sir Richard Branson has found a solution to the most unproblematic of holiday problems, and has opened a departure lounge, complete with check-in desk, on one of the Caribbean’s most popular beaches.
And so, now operating on Brownes Beach in Carlisle Bay, Barbados, is Virgin Holidays’ first ever Departure Beach – an innovative way to waste those last few hours of annual leave. Travellers check in at dedicated desks, picking up their boarding pass while they’re at it, before being granted access to a very slick beach club complete with showers, a toes-in-the-sand style bar and restaurant and direct access to the sea. Luggage is checked in at Brownes Beach, ready to pick up from the baggage belt at the final destination. Plus, guests get a free transfer from their hotel to Departure Beach, then onto the airport – where all that’s left to do is go through security…
The new concept was deemed so important to the holiday company that Sir Richard Branson himself had even flown in from his home on Necker Island in the nearby(ish) British Virgin Islands, alongside a bevvy of famous faces including DJ Maya Jama, Laura from Love Island and Pixie Lott. We were all sinking rum punches, with the exception of Sir Richard: when I asked what I should order at the bar, he told me he’s a “virgin guy” on the tropical punch.
Virgin Holidays’ managing director Joe Thompson hints that there may be other Departure Beaches rolled out across other islands, most likely in the Caribbean – although there are “no firm plans” right now.
That’s fine. On Brownes Beach in Barbados, we’ve got powdery sand, sun-loungers and that shimmering sea to enjoy on what feels like a proper last day of my holiday. The flight home has rarely felt further away.
Brownes Beach really is on the beach!
https://barbados.org/bcbrownesbeach.htm#.XB_gm83gpPY
But what about the several feet of sea level rise we have been promised? Surely that will wipe out Richard Branson’s nice little earner?
The Independent? itself told us just a few years ago that rising sea levels caused by climate change are set to cause damage of billions of dollars to the islands states of the Caribbean by the middle of the century, including wiping out more than 300 premium tourist resorts.
Airports, power plants, roads and agricultural land in low-lying areas, as well as prime tourist locations on islands from Bermuda to Barbados, and from St Kitts and Nevis to St Vincent and the Grenadines, will be all be lost or severely damaged, with dire implications for national economies and for the welfare of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people.
And the Independent? must be right, because Richard Branson himself told us so:
The work of Many Strong Voices (MSV) to help raise the profile of people in the Arctic and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and their struggle against climate change has gained the support of one of the world’s most influential business leaders.
Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Airlines and a champion of green energy, has offered his support to MSV, which brings together the peoples of the Arctic and SIDS to meet the challenges of climate change.
"When it comes to climate change, arctic communities and small island states share similar struggles,” Branson said. “As they feel the impacts of rising sea levels and deteriorating coastal environments, organizations like Many Strong Voices collaborate, act and innovate to achieve lasting change.
“Their critical work fills the gap between those affected by adverse climate impacts and the political and business leaders focused on creating big picture solutions."
Branson has invested considerable time and money in supporting global initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the use of renewable resources and new technologies. Recently, he called on business leaders to take a stand against climate deniers.
http://www.manystrongvoices.org/news.aspx?id=6110
Surely he wasn’t telling fibs all along? Or perhaps he fancies himself as the next King Canute!
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
December 24, 2018 at 04:45AM
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