Jamaica- Over one thousand new jobs are coming onstream in the tourism industry.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC—Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says opening two new hotels in Western Jamaica will create approximately 1,500 new jobs in the tourism industry.

Bartlett made the disclosure as he opened the 2024/25 sectoral debate in parliament earlier this week. He said the new positions will result from the completion of more than 2,000 new rooms this year.

“We will open… 750 rooms at RIU, Trelawny, and later in May, we will open [Princess Grand Jamaica] in Green Island [Hanover], with 1,000 rooms, and that will provide a new wave of some 1,500 new jobs… for people,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bartlett informed that 29 percent of all visitors to Jamaica stayed in an Airbnb.

“It is a new, dynamic business model that is revolutionizing the accommodation subsector and generating income and resources for ordinary people across Jamaica.”

Data has indicated that Airbnb generated an estimated J$31.8 billion in gross earnings from 1.3 million guest nights last year.

Concerning travel advisories, Bartlett said Jamaica’s visitor arrivals have not been negatively affected.

Addressing the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday, he said travel advisories are the “purview” of Jamaica’s international partners.

“In evaluating what they regard as the state of our three Ss – safety, security, and seamlessness – they do gradings. Our job is to ensure that we are at the highest level of their evaluation when the grades are done.”

He further shared that Jamaica is working feverishly to remove elements that foster a negative evaluation.

“We are also working with our diplomatic partners to enable a better understanding of the Jamaican situation, and also, we are relying heavily now on Jamaica’s history of strong, safe, and secure experiences,” Bartlett said.

He pointed out that Jamaica has a 42 percent repeat business rate, which is the highest in the region, and the incidents that occur are limited in relation to the visitor population.

Stopover arrivals for the 2023/24 fiscal year are estimated at 2.96 million, reflecting a 9.4 percent increase, while cruise arrivals are estimated at 1.34 million, up nine percent from the previous period in 2022/23.

“I’m happy that the market does not share the views of much of the advisories that come to us; that’s why we’re able to give you the numbers we gave,” he said.