Dr. McNeill Hails Tourism Workers

Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, is lauding the hard work of employers in the tourism sector in ensuring that destination Jamaica retains its competitive edge in world tourism.

He said apart from Jamaica’s natural resources, the human resources in the hotel industry continue to make a big difference.

“Hospitality workers are the bedrock of our world-class tourism industry. You are one of the most, if not the most important, assets for tourism and hospitality organisations. You are the difference that enables us to provide exceptional service to visitors, exceed consumer expectations and achieve that much-needed competitive advantage,” he said.

Dr. McNeill was addressing the annual Eminence staff awards of the Hyatt Ziva and Zilara Rose Hall on Tuesday, February 2, at the property in Montego Bay, St. James.

He said in just over a year since its opening, the property has been helping to build Jamaica’s strong reputation in tourism, due to the high-quality service of its workers.

He noted that with tourism being one of the largest and fastest growing industries worldwide, there will be new and greater demands from the Jamaican hospitality sector and its players.

Meanwhile, the Tourism and Entertainment Minister said the sector is expected to generate thousands of new jobs from the building and expansion of hotels.

He noted that sector has attracted approximately $64 billion worth of investment since 2014 for the construction of some 2,500 hotel rooms.

Minister McNeill informed that the training of workers is being intensified in order to adequately take advantage of the job opportunities that will come on stream.

“We are expanding our world-class training programmes so that we can increase our cadre of skilled workers, who are trained and certified to take advantages of opportunities, both during construction of the new properties and on completion of these new resorts. We are actively collaborating with the Ministry of Education, HEART Trust/NTA and other tertiary institutions to roll out these programmes,” he said.