Tourism Institute for Jamaica

A regional institute for the training of supervisory staff in the tourism and hospitality industry is to be established in Jamaica next year.

The project is being facilitated through the collaborative efforts of the governments of Spain and Jamaica and other countries in the region.

The institute, which will be a model of the School of Hospitality and Tourism of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, will seek to train in excess of 150 students each year for the tourism industry.

Spanish Ambassador to Jamaica, Jesus de Silva, has pledged US$ 1million on behalf of his government for preliminary work on the project.

The project will involve the upgrading and renovation of the Runaway Bay HEART Hotel in St. Ann.

Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett said the institute should be operational by late 2009, to meet the demands for a more qualified workforce in the tourism sector.