Ground To Be Broken For 3,000 Hotel Rooms over Coming Months

• Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett, says ground is to be broken for 3,000 hotel rooms over the next few months. Speaking at a virtual ground-breaking ceremony for the new Sandals Dunn’s River Resort in St. Ann, on May 26, the Minister also noted that he recently concluded, in Spain, arrangements for another 1,000 rooms. 
• “I am excited about the prospect of where we are going with the industry in this round. Already for the year, we have welcomed just a little over 400,000 visitors and we have earned some US$500Mn of foreign exchange for Jamaica,” Mr. Bartlett explained. This is below the 574,131 tourist arrivals recorded for the same period in 2020, which is solely made up of arrivals reported in January to March as the border was closed to foreigners in April and May to limit the spread of the pandemic. Notably, the total visitors thus far in 2021 is greater than the 306,273 visitors to the island from June to December 2020. 
• In the meantime, Mr. Bartlett indicated that Jamaica’s tourism sector is undergoing a renewal process, and that this new tourism is going to drive a greater level of “inclusiveness” that will further benefit the local economy. He said there will be more indigenous Jamaican programmes, experiences and entrepreneurships to strengthen and build the new tourism product.

(Source: Jamaica Information Service)