KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has hailed former Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association President Peter Rousseau as a true patriotic Jamaican.

Rousseau died at his home in St Andrew on Wednesday after ailing for sometime.

“Peter Rousseau was one of the few Jamaicans who had an unshakeable belief in his country, and the value of tourism to national development,” said Bartlett.

“With his passing, the country and the tourism industry in particular, have lost a Jamaican who was patriotic, helped to hold the tourism industry together through hard times, and he will be remembered for a very long time.”

Paying tribute to Rousseau, Bartlett noted that the late former JHTA president made a tremendous contribution to the tourism industry.

READ: Peter Rousseau has died

He added that Rousseau did so to the extent of putting himself in debt to build the former Ciboney Hotel, now the luxurious Sandals Ochi Beach Resort, when local investment in the sector was not popular and was regarded as a big gamble.

He also managed one of Kingston’s landmark hotels, the Terra Nova, and more recently was part of a family-run restaurant.

“Peter Rousseau also served the tourism sector as president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) during the difficult period of the late 1980s in addition to serving his country as a director of the Jamaica Tourist Board and a number of other boards and performed creditably,” Bartlett expressed.