A Tale of Two Islands?

I ran across two articles today, both in Florida newspapers, that reflect two completely different ways the Turks & Caicos Islands is marketing itself. On the one hand, the Miami Herald has an article Caribbean shifts toward high-end tourism which talks a lot about the upcoming Ritz Carlton Molasses Reef resort on West Caicos and quotes Premier Michael Misick saying "We are not interested in quantity, we are interested in quality. If you can't afford it, the Turks and Caicos is not for you. That may sound snobbish, but we've made a strategic decision to pursue up-market tourism." Yes, Mr. Misick, that is pretty snobbish, but I guess you get credit for saying it as it is.

Meanwhile the Orlando Sentinel in Grand Turk beckons visitors talks about the onslaught of tourists at the TCI capital. "This tiny island once received perhaps 10,000 visitors a year. It's now welcoming an estimated 300,000." The Grand Turk cruise facility was built by Carnival, a decidedly non-upscale cruise line.

Update 9/18: Here's another article about the cruise ship dock at Grand Turk. This ones goes in a bit more depth about the excursions available. Plus here's an interesting tidbit:

Its position makes it a safe berth, Ellis said, a contingency port in bad weather, with a two-ship pier engineered to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. "The rest of the island might blow away," Ellis said, "but the pier won't."

So where does that leave Provo? I guess it's for us folk who aren't swimming in money and cannot (or do not want to) afford a multi-million dollar place in the middle of a wildlife sanctuary but at same time don't like the crowds of a cruise destination. We call Provo: "just right".