Business

LUCEA, Hanover:

Investors of the Spanish-owned Fiesta Hotel will be investing US$180 million to add another 800 rooms to the hotel at Point in Lucea, Hanover.

Edmund Bartlett, minister of tourism, and Abel Matutes, chief executive officer of the Fiesta Hotel Group, made the disclosure on Wednesday at a press conference at the Ministry of Tourism in New Kingston.

"This is an important statement of confidence in the growth of the tourism market in Jamaica, and a signal that Jamaica is still a strong investment location for foreign investment," he said.

Matutes, who flew in from Spain this week, as promised by Bartlett in his contribution to the Budget Debate last month, said he would be submitting the plans for approval to relevant authorities.

If approvals are given, construction is expected to begin in the summer, or by the latest September, and completed within 18 to 24 months.

Bartlett is estimating that the investment would create some 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, which include construction workers, and 1,200 permanent workers after completion.

"The (management of the) Fiesta Hotel obviously have done well with phase one and are fully satisfied that an investment larger than the first phase is now (feasible)," he pointed out.

Bartlett said phase two would make the hotel the second-largest hotel in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The expansion will also include 275 royal suites.

It will also accommodate a 3,150 square-foot convention centre for meetings that should accommodate 2,000 persons.

Other amenities include private gardens and pools and butler services.

89% occupancy level

Matutes said the 1,000-room hotel, which opened two years ago, was holding its own, with an 89 per cent occupancy level. Matutes, whose family owns and operates 41 hotels worldwide, said the Fiesta Hotel was one of the better- performing hotels in the group.

"Jamaica has been doing very well," he added, as he pointed out that other markets, such as the Mexican market, which had been affected by swine flu, were still not at their best.

During the construction of the Fiesta Hotel, management was faced with a few mishaps relating to work on the construction site, but Matutes said this time around, the situation would be different.

"There was a clash of culture then. And we had some misunderstandings," he said.

Matutes also toured lands at Font Hill in St Elizabeth with the intention of investing in the area. But when pressed about the discussion with the Spanish investor, Bartlett said they were just "exploratory talks".

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com