MONTEGO BAY, St James — Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett says there are plans to enhance the tourism make-up of Rose Hall in St James, as greater investments continue to shape that space.

Speaking to reporters at the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association’s annual general meeting on Saturday, Bartlett outlined the vision for the area, which is arguably one of the most tourism impacted areas in Jamaica.

Rose Hall is already home to a large portion of the local room stock, and it’s where majority of the elegant corridor is located.

“Right there you’re going to have a little over 5,000 rooms and that will be the largest compilation of hotel rooms in any single space within the Caribbean, where you have 5,000 rooms just within walking distance of each other,” Bartlett said.

However, while the room stock continues to grow, the area is also where thousands of people reside, a lot of them tourism workers. There are also plans for more houses to be built in that general area with some 3,000 new homes coming over the next few years.

These, the minister explained, are crucial to the process, but importantly, there is the commercial aspect that is also planned for the area.

“The Rollins’ lands that you have opposite the Hilton are all commercial lots that have already been bought by commercial partners to build service stations and supermarkets and such,” Bartlett said.

“What we will do now is build out proper health facilities for the workers, to expand the health arrangements there. To expand the schools and also to build a STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] school in the Barrett Hall area so that we can train more tourism-specific skills within those areas,” he revealed as another component of the plan

This synergy, Bartlett explained, will allow for the community to link into the developments and be more involved in creating the township.

“At the essence of this innovation township is the circular economy where the hotels will feed into the community with electricity supply and water supply and so on, and the community feeds back in with the various goods and services that the hotel will need,” he explained.

“Backyard farming will be encouraged and small cottage industries will be encouraged, particularly for manufacturing of condiments and so on. But, also to make sheets and pillowcase and blankets, all those little things that the hotel is going to need,” he said.

The minister believes this could be the first of its kind anywhere globally.

“That’s the essence of the inclusivity that we are talking about, and I want it to be the model, to be the first tourism innovation town in the Caribbean, arguably in the world.“