750 New Hotel Rooms for Trelawny

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says 750 new hotel rooms will be constructed in Trelawny.

“We are close to signing off on all the paperwork and all the permits,” the Minister said, while speaking at a function at the Melia Braco Resort in Trelawny, on October 16.

The Minister also noted that during the winter season, construction will commence on a total of 2,300 rooms, “a vote of confidence in Jamaica than at any other time I can recall”.

Mr. Bartlett said he has never been this excited about Jamaica’s tourism prospects, adding that investor confidence is high and Jamaica is increasingly being seen as a first-choice destination.

The Minister pointed out that the 750 additional rooms will add to the nearly 15,000 new rooms that are slated to be built over the next five years.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bartlett said that on a recent trip to Armenia, he was forced to miss a flight due to the threat of Hurricane Matthew on Jamaica, when the unexpected happened.

“Because we were forced to spend a few additional days in Armenia, we were able to connect with the largest tour operator in that country, who also happens to be one of the significant tour operators in Russia, the Czech Republic and Istanbul,” he explained.

“As it turned out, they have a very large outlet in Los Angeles. There are two million Armenians in the United States and they travel all over the Caribbean, but they don’t come to Jamaica for some reason. So, we were able to forge a partnership with this very important tour operator,” the Minister said.

Mr. Bartlett added that Director of Tourism, Paul Pennicook, who was also on the trip, has been charged with the responsibility to work out the marketing details.

“He has already made the arrangement for them to come to Jamaica in December for our tourism outlook seminar and where we can get the ball rolling in terms of connections and flights into Jamaica,” he said.