Largest Spanish hotel chain in Jamaica backs training, pension for tourism workers

The Ministry of Tourism says the largest chain of Spanish hotels in Jamaica is backing its thrust to train tourism workers and implement an industry pension scheme.

 In a media release today, the tourism ministry said Inverotel was now backing the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation (JCTI) and the government's pension scheme for tourism workers. It said this, among other things, was the outcome of a meeting between Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett and president of Inverotel, Encarna Pina in Spain on Friday.

"I am very pleased by the support received by our Spanish partners and their willingness to help develop Jamaica's human capital through training and our pension scheme. This shows that they understand that our people are crucial to the growth of the sector and as such need to the tools to build capacity," said Bartlett, who was attending FITUR, the largest international tourism trade fair in Spain.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, Spanish hoteliers have spent some US$1.7 billion on developing hotels in Jamaica and now account for 25 per cent of rooms on the island.

After a number of meetings with tour operators, airline representatives, other industry partners and hoteliers, Bartlett announced that Jamaica would be benefiting from US$750 million in Foreign Direct Investment and 3,000 new rooms from hotel chains H10 and Princess Resorts.

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