| KINGSTON, April 16 (JIS): |
 Finance
and Planning Minister, Dr. Omar Davies has said that the impending
increase in the number of hotels to be constructed by international
groups, indicated a strong level of investor confidence in the future
of the economy.He pointed out that the total investment would be in the range of US$550 million to US$600 million, excluding the cost of land acquisition, with 5,000 rooms being constructed over a five-year period and generating in excess of 12,000 new jobs. Opening the 2004/05 Budget Debate in the House yesterday (April 16), the Minister noted that during the course of the calendar year, at least 800 new hotel rooms would come on stream, with the RIU Hotel in Negril and Sandals Whitehouse providing the majority of the rooms. He noted that Sandals Whitehouse, in which the government was the majority owner, was the first major resort to be established on the South Coast and it was expected that the development “would be a catalyst for future tourism development on that side of the island”. The Minister added that later this year, construction would begin on four new hotel properties being developed by Spanish hotel chains. They would be situated at Rose Hall in St James; Oyster Bay in Trelawny; Peartree Bay in St. Ann, and Mammee Bay, also in St Ann. Dr.
Davies informed that Iberostar would be constructing three hotels
with a total number of 950 rooms at Rose Hall; AM Resorts would
be building four hotels with a total of 1,400 rooms at Oyster Bay;
Grupo Pinero would be building 3 hotels with a total of 1,800 rooms
at Peartree Bay, while RIU would be constructing 3 hotels with a
total of 850 rooms at Mammee Bay. |
