When the Heads of State/Government meet for the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain this weekend, many people would be sunbathing along the nation's coastline.

Reservations were made weeks in advance and many beach houses' owners said people were still calling to make bookings for this weekend.

"It is like another long weekend. We have people coming tomorrow morning to check in. And many more are calling to make reservations, but we have to turn away some because there is no space," Michael Browne, owner of a beach house, said.

An employee at Radix Beach Resort, Mayaro, said she was surprised by the number of bookings for this weekend. "We have a lot of people coming this weekend, more than a usual weekend. We did not really expect it because we just had a long weekend for Easter, so we thought people would not really come this weekend. But people made reservations weeks before and people are still calling," the employee said.

Last weekend scores of people flocked to the beaches for the long Easter weekend. The Express learned that several families remained at the beach houses for the entire week.

"We have people here since last week because the children are on holidays. People are staying home from work tomorrow because of the Summit and making it another long weekend," Rasheed Mohammed, owner of a guest house in Manzanilla said.

Many businesses in Port of Spain would remain closed during the days of the Summit of the Americas. And there are a few workers who decided to take the day off and spend the weekend with relatives at the beach.

Sham Mohammed, who was at a beach house in Guayaguayare when the Express called yesterday said: "I just checked in for the weekend because I don't have work tomorrow. It is not that we don't care what is happening in Port-of-Spain, but instead of just sitting home and waiting to hear what happened we decided to spend the weekend at the beach with relatives."