Tourism Workers Pension Scheme Surpasses $1 Billion in Savings

The Tourism Workers Pension Scheme has surpassed the first $1 billion in savings within a year and half of its implementation.

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, made the disclosure in a recent JIS News interview.

He said that almost 9,000 persons have subscribed to the plan, which is designed to cover permanent, contract or self-employed workers in the tourism sector, aged 18 to 59 years.

This includes hotel workers as well as persons employed in related industries, such as craft vendors, tour operators, red cap porters, contract carriage operators and workers at attractions.

“We are encouraging more and more of the workers [to subscribe to the scheme] because now the fund has over $2 billion in it, accruing interest and growing at a rate of $74 million a month. So, by the end of this year, we expect that the number of our members will increase, and we are hoping to pass our 10,000 mark,” Minister Bartlett said.

At the time of its implementation in January 2020, the Government provided $1 billion to seed the fund.

This ensured that qualified pensioners who met the vested period of five years could receive the immediate benefits.

Every worker in the tourism sector is eligible to be part of the Tourism Workers Pension Scheme.

Currently, about 350,000 people in Jamaica are employed in the sector, directly or indirectly, and the pension scheme has the potential for nearly 500,000 contributors.

The Ministry will observe Tourism Awareness Week from September 24 to 30.