Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says the parish of Hanover, which has seen a significant increase in its hotel room stock over the past decade, is poised to see more hotel rooms, including a casino facility.
Bartlett said the new facilities will further boost the parish’s economic standing.
“This parish is fast becoming the most important tourism parish in the country. You are going to have, among other things, the first casino tourism facility right here in the parish in Green Island,” said Bartlett, who was speaking at the official reopening of the Lords playing field and multi-purpose court in Lucea. the parish capital.
According to Bartlett, the Green Island community, which currently has some 2,000 hotel rooms, is expected to welcome another 1,000 hotel rooms based on the new developments planned. Green Island is home to the recently opened Princess Hotel.
“We are going to bring the Viva Wyndham for another 1,000 rooms at Rhodes Hall, and then Palladium Hotels. which is just outside of Lucea, is now expanding with 998 more luxury rooms,” said Bartlett.
Bartlett used the opportunity to praise the developers of the Princess Hotel for an initiative which saw them constructing some 500 rooms for hotel workers. The accommodations for the hotel workers were constructed simultaneously with their hotel project.
The minister said a similar formula would be used in at least one of the projects on the drawing board, as the housing of staffers will be an important component in the plans to build more hotels.
“Six hundred houses are going to be built by Palladium Hotels for the workers of the tourism industry,” said Bartlett, who added that he was quite excited by the atmosphere surrounding the tourism sector in Hanover. “What is happening is setting the stage for a great time ahead.”
Bartlett further argued that, whereas tourism is often spoken about in numbers, the industry is not just about numbers but also about the multiplier effect that is present in terms of value, economic growth and progress for all stakeholders. He said the multiplier effect of the tourism sector drives several other sectors such as construction, agriculture, manufacturing, finance, education and health, which are all key to creating opportunities for all stakeholders.