Sun | Jul 5, 2026

Owners of Bahia Principe hotel chain signal US$1.5 billion St Ann resort development

Published:Wednesday | January 24, 2024 | 4:46 PM
Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett (left) posing with Chief Executive Officer of the Pinero Group, Encana Pinero (centre), and Chief Operating Officer, Jamie Sitjar, following talks FITUR 2024 in Madrid, Spain. - Contributed photo.

Over 14,000 jobs could be created amid plans by the owners of the Bahia Principe hotel chain to construct a new US$1.5 billion resort development in St Ann.

The initiative would see two new hotels being built, with an array of amenities to come on board including luxury villas, a state-of-the-art fisherman's village, farms, employee residences, and educational facilities.

Chief Executive Officer of the Pinero Group, Encarno Pinero, shared the plans with Jamaica's Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett at the International Tourism Trade Fair, better known as FITUR, 2024, which is underway in Madrid, Spain.

The Spanish tourism group did not disclose how many rooms would be constructed under the project.

The initiative would represent a massive expansion of its existing Bahia Principe resort in St Ann, which is the largest hotel in Jamaica.

Reacting, Bartlett said that such a new development would increase Jamaica's tourism offerings to attract more visitors to the island.

“It will be a great mixture of hotel rooms and villas that will mean more economic and social benefits for the country and at the community level,” he said in a release out of Spain.

“The expansion will be a game changer for Jamaica's tourism and help us be prepared for the influx of visitors expected to the island. It also shows the confidence that our hotel partners have in the destination,” Bartlett added.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com

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