$500 Million to Improve Housing Conditions of Tourism Workers

Significant steps are being taken to address the housing needs of the tourism workforce.

Through the Tourism Enhancement Fund’s partnership with the New Social Housing Programme, $500 million will be allocated to improve housing conditions for tourism workers living in substandard circumstances.

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, made the disclosure as he opened the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on April 30.

“This strategy of reaching to the very poor tourism worker is one that had been tugging at me for a while. I go to see them work and I recognise that some leave the palatial settings to [a humble one] and that cannot be right. That is not the right picture,” Mr. Bartlett said.

“The tourism partners… I just met with the last of the group on Friday last, have now agreed that they will come in and match, so we can provide as much as 100 little houses for tourism workers of that nature in this financial year,” he added.

In addition, Mr. Bartlett informed that 3,000 housing units are to be provided by the hotel investors.

“One of the new ones in Hanover will provide 500 units for the workers right there in Green Island. Next door to them, an expansion is going to happen for 600 units, again for workers in Hanover,” the Minister stated.

“We are looking at discussing now with a particular investor in St. Ann, which is going to be the biggest investment in the history of tourism in Jamaica. We will talk about it a little later when certain other things are done, but what it promises to do is to build an entire village with facilities for fishermen, schools for the workers and for the community,” he added.

Mr. Bartlett said that it is a new day for tourism… and “we are saying to them, you are coming to invest in Jamaica, you are going to invest in the community, the environment and you are going to invest in governance”.