Jamaica Is Leading The Way

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett is welcoming the resurgence of the villas sub-sector as the popular Caribbean island sees its local hotel room-stock set to grow by 20,000 new rooms over the next five to 10 years.

The Minister credited the COVID-19 pandemic for bringing about a revival in villas for visitor accommodation, noting that: “Jamaica is now leading the way in providing new and exciting villa experiences for tourists across the region.”

Bartlett made the comments during his keynote address at the official opening of the $1.3 billion Bengal Cove Villas development in Discovery Bay recently, telling the over the directors that he was very proud of what they were doing and that “I hope more of these types of properties to open along this coast all the way to St Mary.”

Dubbing the north-eastern coastal region development as “the Jamaican Riviera”, Minister Bartlett said discussions were underway “with some other people who are coming up with some other programs for places like Robin’s Bay and Oracabessa and we’re going to be encouraging more and more Jamaicans to participate in this very important sub-sector of the industry.”

He told the directors of Bengal Cove Villas that they were part of a growing segment of the accommodation sub-sector in Jamaica, citing that last year 29% of the approximately 3 million stopover visitors that came to Jamaica were in what he termed ‘the shared economy’ pioneered by entities such as Airbnb.

The minister also underscored the democratization of the accommodation sub-sector and that a large group of people with varied size homes, apartments and villas “are now inserted in the tourism value chain, broadening therefore the range of participants in the industry, but more importantly providing slices of the pie for a larger number of Jamaican people.”

For those with concerns, Bartlett urged them to band together to reap greater rewards from the industry.

As for hotel room-stock, Minister Bartlett said Jamaica was going into a very important phase in its development as a country in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) “and right now on the cards, 20,000 new hotel rooms are to be built in Jamaica over the next five to ten years.”

However, he expressed concerns at approvals taking long periods to be finalized and underscored that “we need to develop that efficiency in construction that allows for us to start and complete projects in a time frame that allows for a fiscal cycle that is manageable.”

While making it clear that the rules must be adhered to, Bartlett said central to this was the development orders, requirements for the administrative arrangements and the applications when they come in, “but more importantly we have to be more pointed in terms of the requirements to fulfil what is needed to enable fast approval.”

Minister Bartlett also pointed out for those who might be a little anxious “and perhaps even a little disingenuous in terms of their comments about how things are going, to realize that the achievements of Jamaica and the growth that we have enabled did not come without some disruptions, and human capital disruptions is part of it.”

He pointed to the global tourism and travel industry losing seven million workers during the pandemic and the difficulty being faced in getting them back

Photo Caption (top)

Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett delivers the keynote address ahead of cutting a blue ribbon signalling the official opening of the $1.3 billion Bengal Cove Villas in Discovery Bay, St Ann on Saturday, March 18, 2023. He spoke of a resurgence in villa accommodation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo Caption (middle)

All are pleased as Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett (3rd left) cuts a blue ribbon signalling the official opening of the $1.3 billion Bengal Cove Villas in Discovery Bay, St Ann on Saturday, March 18, 2023. He spoke of a resurgence in villa accommodation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The official party includes (from left): Directors Ian Kelly, Andrew Fogarty, Richard Palmer, Mayor of St Ann’s Bay, Councillor Sydney Stewart, Councillor for Discovery Bay and the Dry Harbour Division, Carlton Ricketts and Director Jerome Smalling.