KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett has revealed that the Tourism Workers Pension Scheme (TWPS) now has over five thousand members, and over 15,000 potential applicants.

The scheme is expected to benefit thousands of people employed in the tourism sector, both directly and indirectly, and will require mandatory contributions by employees and employers alike.

Updating Parliament in his 2022/23 Sectoral Debate Closing Presentation in Parliament recently, Bartlett announced that the board of trustees for the TWPS met recently to review the scheme’s performance since its launch in January.

Bartlett said the board indicated that the scheme now has some 5,500 members, adding that the majority of those members have so far paid nearly $90 million into the fund. Bartlett also noted that these developments occurred since February of this year, and that there are some 15,000 employees “pending to become members” of the pension scheme.

Bartlett said he is anticipating that adding the new pool of funds that will be created from the scheme will be a game changer for the country’s economy.

The tourism minister said he estimates that the figure will be between “$400 billion to $500 billion as the scheme matures,” adding that he expects more than 350,000 tourism workers to be engaged in the programme. Bartlett assured that “this will be a game changer in terms of the pool of capital that will be made available for development of infrastructure and other businesses.”

In the meantime, Bartlett emphasised that the pension scheme “is not just a plan to provide social security, but also a strategy for the economic security of the country” adding that it will allow for the growth of the economy when the domestic savings become a key pool of funds for investment and there will be less of a need for the country to go beyond its shores to borrow money.