PHILADELPHIA, PA—With the US government's recent moves to relax tensions with Cuba, the entire Caribbean region is getting new attention as investment opportunities for commercial real estate development expand, particularly in the hospitality sector, according to Alejandro (Alex) Zozaya, chief executive officer of Apple Leisure Group, holding company for a number of vertically integrated hospitality companies.

Apple Leisure Group, through AMResorts, operates 37 resorts with over 13,960 rooms in 15 beach destinations across the Caribbean, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama.

In an exclusive interview with GlobeSt.com, Zozaya says through the first half of 2014, more than $84 billion was invested in the region, and more can be expected this year.

You can listen to our complete interview with Alex in the player below.

 “I think the total investment is going to continue to expand,” he says. “Interest rates are low and private funds and other types of investors are looking for additional spreads and margins in new destinations. A lot of the investments were opportunistic, particularly on the hotel side. It has been mostly focuses on distressed assets because their time horizon is relatively short,” typically 5-7 years.

US investors are more focused on acquisition of assets rather than new construction, Zozaya says. “I think it's very shy, compared to other investors from Europe and Latin America investing in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico are markets that should be attractive to US based investors, says Zozaya.

 “The most important is return on investment,” he says. “We are talking about IRRs after leverage of high 20s, and we're talking pre-leverage returns of close to 15-16 percent. That means you can pay back investment in a hotel in about seven to 7-1/2 years, which is three times faster than you would in any developed economy like the US or Europe.”

American investors are not active in these markets yet, Zozaya says. Most hotels are owned by wealthy local families or funds, or hotel chains that have small participations with local partners, he says.

“It could be a shorter term, because there are a lot of exits, but it could be a longer term play too,” he says.

Investor concerns about instability in Mexico should be put in perspective, he says. Most of the instability has been in the State of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located.

“Mexico is such a big country,” says Zozaya. “It's like if you heard about some crime in Chicago that made you decide not to go to California.”

US travel to Mexico in 2014 was at its highest level in history, he points out.

Zozaya's firm has worked hard to develop investment opportunities in Haiti. “It has proximity to the US, beautiful beaches, and great weather. The people are very friendly and have a great attitude,” he says. “Haiti has all of the right attributes to start bringing tourism from the US in big numbers as long as the development side goes hand in hand.”

Apple Leisure Group is working with the Haitian government to develop US-focused resort properties with an airport, golf course, gated residential community and 2-3,000 hotel rooms, he says.

Increased development in Cuba will take more time, says Zozaya. New travel regulations will need to be in place, and additional hotels will need to be built to meet demands for four- and five-star class accommodations. For the short term, charter travel and cruise lines will benefit from the thaw in relations.

“We need to understand when and how the regulations will apply,” he says. “We can do charter flights in the short term, and start offering packages, but it's not so well suited for the high-end customer coming from the US. I think that's going to come in the next three or four years, and it's going to take a while to catch up with the infrastructure.”