Construction to start on new 2,000-room Hanover hotel shortly
Published:Friday | January 29, 2021 | 12:30 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Despite the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the local hospitality sector, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has said that investor confidence remains high, with ground to be broken soon for a 2,000-room hotel in Green Island, Hanover.
The US$524.4-million development is being executed under the umbrella of the Spanish hotel company Princess Hotels and Resorts.
“ ... I am pleased to say that, notwithstanding all of the fallout so far from COVID-19, we have had continued confidence in the Jamaican market by our investors,” Bartlett said while addressing a meeting of the Rotary Club of Montego Bay recently.
The tourism sector took a massive hit last year, with global travel plunging as countries introduced restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus. More than 300,000 industry workers were impacted locally as the cruise sector also ground to a halt. Although the sector has been gradually reopening, some operations have not yet been able to re-engage their full staff complement.
According to Bartlett, the first phase of the new hotel – 1,000 rooms – could get off the ground as early as next month, as the requisite approvals are now being sought.
Bartlett pointed out that the Terra Nova mixed-use development in St Andrew will also be expanding by adding 30 rooms. Work is scheduled to commence before the end of the current fiscal year, ending March 31.
“The ROK Hotel in Kingston, with 168 hotel rooms, is still under way and is scheduled to be completed in July 2021,” said Bartlett, who added that several other hotels have expanded and refurbished their properties since the onset of the pandemic. “And so, we are satisfied that the appetite to invest in Jamaica is still here, and it is strong.”
In February 2019, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that tourism is lifting Jamaica out of poverty and giving wings to the Government’s growth and prosperity agenda, while noting that the country’s room stock could double to reach 50,000 within a few years.
“There’s a natural mystic blowing through the air, and if you listen carefully now, you will hear,” Holness said, quoting the lyrics of a popular Bob Marley song while delivering the keynote address at the groundbreaking of Ocean Coral Spring by H10 hotel in Trelawny, on the 74th anniversary of Marley’s birthday.
“Within the decade coming, we could be at 50,000 new rooms,” the prime minister said. “That is the magnitude of the expansion of the industry.”