Tourism Minister commends RIU owners for investing in Jamaica
Tourism
Minister Edmund Bartlett has hailed the owners of the Spanish hotel chain, RIU
Resorts, for the growing expansion and continued investment in Jamaica.
RIU has
pumped more than J$11 billion (US$85 million) into the renovation of its Ocho
Rios property in St Ann, including the building of a state-of-the-art water
park, making the hotel chain one of the largest in Jamaica.
The hotel,
located in Mammee Bay, closed its doors in April to facilitate the renovation,
reopening in September.
The project,
which also included the addition of 45 new rooms and expansion of restaurants,
provided jobs for some 150 new employees.
“We cannot
lose sight of what RIU has been doing,” Bartlett said.
“Not only
does Jamaica have the most RIU hotels in the English-speaking Caribbean, with
six, but also having close to 2,800 workers in all the hotels combined is
saying quite a lot.”
Bartlett
said he was impressed with the speed with which the renovation was completed,
noting that a lot of Jamaicans benefited “and will continue to benefit.”
