ST JAMES, Jamaica — Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is expected to weigh in on concerns about the snail’s pace of some sector players’ insurance payouts, even as they push to recover from last year’s Hurricane Melissa.

“I am sure that our minister, when he returns from his travels overseas, will take this new initiative that is… out in the media today and provide the necessary advocacy required to push their needs along to ensure the claims get settled as quickly as possible,” said Director of Tourism, Donovan White.

He was responding to Observer Online’s request for a comment on the issue following Sunday’s Tourism Awareness Week Church Service held at Faith Temple Assemblies of God in Montego Bay.

Earlier on Sunday, President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), O’Brian Heron took to social media to highlight the issue.

“Almost a year after Hurricane Melissa, some of our hotels, attractions and restaurants have reopened and visitors are returning but there is a problem most people haven’t seen. Our members did their part, more than eight in 10 filed an insurance claim, but when we surveyed them, 61 per cent of those claims were still unresolved,” he pointed out.

“Only one in 10 operators expect to recover everything they lost. Seven in 10 tell us deductions went beyond what their policies provide and more than a quarter have already accepted less than their loss because they simply needed the cash,” he added.

This, the JHTA head noted, comes against the backdrop of the insurance industry having set targets for most claims to be settled by the end of September. He said it is clear that those targets will not be met.

“Our members are being told that the delays come down to complexity and a shortage of adjustors. Complexity is not an excuse for silence and it’s no reason for deductions beyond the policy,” Heron insisted.

Many hotels and attractions had to shutter their doors after sustaining damage from the strong winds and heavy rainfall brought by last year’s category five storm. Many properties have used this as an opportunity to upgrade as they rebuild and prepare to once again welcome guests. But according to the JHTA, the issue of unresolved insurance claims has become a stumbling block.

While stressing that insurance does not fall under the tourism ministry’s remit, White is confident Bartlett will look into it because it affects industry players.

“We don’t offer insurance coverage to our private sector partners; those are private sector arrangements between our stakeholders and partners and their various insurance companies,” the tourism director clarified.

“What I am sure minister [Bartlett] is always seized with, is how can we provide the necessary advocacy to the financial sector — in particular the insurance sector within the financial sector — to ensure that what is required and what is needed to provide the kind of support to ensure that these claims, legitimate claims, are indeed honoured and honoured quickly,” he added.

The JHTA president’s outcry comes weeks before the December 15 start of the winter tourist season, traditionally the peak period for tourists visiting Jamaica. According to White, things are looking good.

“We are very, very optimistic to the outturn given that we will be up to 80 or 84 per cent — maybe as much as 90 per cent — of our room stock, all things equal, by the end of December 2026,” he told the Observer.

“That gives us great, great confidence that we will be operating at close to optimum for the winter tourist season. That also is bookended by the confidence that our international partners — including our airline partners, our tour operator partners, our cruise partners — have shown to the industry and to Jamaica as a destination. We believe we’ll have a very aggressive and a very productive winter tourist season,” he said.