ST JAMES, Jamaica – The Government is moving quickly to respond to the housing needs of the large number of workers who are flocking to the resort areas in search of the growing tourism-related opportunities, says Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett.

Bartlett, who was speaking at a Town Hall meeting at the Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay, St James, on August 31, pointed to the 4,000 housing solutions for tourism workers across the western side of Jamaica, particularly in the Montego Bay area.

“It is a very important issue… the workers have been moving into the resort areas at a rapid pace. The fact that they see opportunities, especially the fact that so many hotel rooms have been going up… we are going to have places for them to stay,” the minister added.

“We have 800 units in Edmund Ridge, and in Grange Pen we have already completed infrastructure for 535 families,” the minister said.

He added that there have also been 1,900 beneficiaries, and “we bought 352 acres of land in Greenfield where 1,250 new houses will be built by the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ)”.

Bartlett said that the reality is that Jamaica’s stunning natural beauty, warm climate, and rich cultural heritage have long attracted tourists from around the world, resulting in the tourism sector experiencing significant growth and leading to a surge in employment opportunities in resort towns such as Montego Bay and Falmouth.

“However, the surge in tourism workers has exacerbated an already challenging housing situation. The truth is that the tourist areas were ill-prepared to accommodate the rapid influx of individuals, thus the scarcity of available housing units,” the minister noted.

“We saw what was happening and realised we had to act expeditiously before the situation ballooned out of control. With 3,000 units in Estuary, as well as more units in Barrett Hall, Grange Pen, Edmund Ridge, and Spot Valley, we will have the solutions to meet the demand, notably in St James,” he added.

Bartlett, in the meantime, said that on Wednesday, his ministry received news that the first $1 billion of savings in the Pension Plan for tourism workers had been reached from 9,000 workers in the industry.

The ninister said that the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), at their meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 27 (World Tourism Day), “will highlight Jamaica as an example of a country that has built human capital and has trained more workers than any other country in the region”.

-JIS