Investment ideas - 2/6·
Pretty places. The growth of discount airlines such as JetBlue and easyJet, in the US and Europe, has put smaller destinations within cheap and easy reach of major cities. And the spread of high-speed internet access makes it ever easier to access corporate information systems, and communicate with colleagues, while away from the office. If location no longer matters, why not spend the winter in Marrakech or the Caribbean?
There is nothing new about the holiday home; northern Europeans have been buying second properties on the Costa del Sol for decades. But real estate in warm and pretty places has further to go. The Buzz flight to Bergerac has boosted property prices in that part of the Dordogne; and one can reasonably expect the discount airline network to cover the whole of Europe and the Mediterranean, and north and central America.
My picks, though these are subjective: Essaouira, in Morocco, if they can get an airport built; the resorts outside Tunis; Dubrovnik on the Adriatic; the Buda hills of Budapest; and -- this one I'm seriously exploring myself -- Havana. The Cuban capital is just three hours flight from New York, it beats Miami Beach hands down for allure and excitement, Castro is getting old, and you can buy an Art Deco apartment by the promenade for $20,000.
As for high-speed internet, StarBand now offers a satellite connection for $69.99 per month. The only problem: how to smuggle it into Cuba.
[Excerpted from State of the Union, for Management Today]
