Government of Jamaica

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News Releases

Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett (right) receives a welcome hug, one of the many he received on his tour of Royalton Negril on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. Management and staff were out in their numbers to greet the Minister at the restart of operations following a multi-million-dollar restoration in the wake of last year’s hurricane.

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Workers Joyful as Royalton Negril Reopens Amid Wider Tourism Recovery

NEGRIL, Jamaica; Thursday, August 27, 2026: Pulsating music, dance and colourful dresses marked the reopening of the Royalton Negril hotel and the return of nearly 1,000 workers to their jobs. The hotel reopened at 50 percent occupancy, which is expected to rise to 80 percent over the US Thanksgiving period, and is already sold out for Jamaica’s Heroes Weekend and Christmas. Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, was excited as he moved among staff members and was greeted with gleeful smiles as he toured the property to see firsthand its multi-million-dollar recovery from the impact of hurricane Melissa. “When I walked in, I saw that 960 workers were back on the job, and that by Thanksgiving, I'm told, the other 320 will be back, and we will have a full complement of 1,200 workers employed. That means families are now going to be more secure. It's coming back at the right time with back to school,” Minister Bartlett said.
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Bartlett Welcomes Grand Jewel in Tourism Crown

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, September 27, 2017: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has welcomed the addition of Jewel Grande Montego Bay Resort & Spa to the range of resort accommodations being offered by Jamaica’s diverse tourism industry.
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Falmouth To Benefit From Newly Appointed Tour Guides

Falmouth, Trelawny: September 28, 2017…….. Ten newly appointed tour guides participated in an awards and closing ceremony on Tuesday, September 26, 2017, after completing a two week training in Team Jamaica and Tour Guiding skills. The appointment of the tour guides in the Falmouth area is one of the initiatives to curb visitor harassment in Falmouth. The programme, namely the Falmouth Guide Services was created through the efforts of The Honourable Dr. Horace Change, Minister without portfolio, Economic Growth and Job Creation who is also the Chairman of the Falmouth Re-Development Committee along with the partnership of the Tourism Product Development Company Ltd. (TPDCo) which provided Team Jamaica and Tour Guide training for the graduates.
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Record Arrivals Mark the Start of Tourism Awareness Week

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, September 25, 2017: The local tourism sector began its celebration of Tourism Awareness Week (TAW) 2017 with news that Jamaica continues to experience record-breaking visitor arrivals. For the first eight months of this calendar year, January to August, there was a 6.9 percent increase in stopover arrivals in comparison to the corresponding period for 2016.
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Tourism Service Excellence Awards (TSEA), Ready to Roll

Kingston, Jamaica; September 19, 2017… Plans are in high gear for the staging of The Tourism Service Excellence Awards for 2017, by the Ministry of Tourism through its agency the Tourism Product Development Company Ltd, (TPDCo). The Awards which was launched in 2008 and staged for three (3) years, after a brief hiatus, wove its way back onto the calendar of events in the tourism sector and was a stunning success for the 2016 period.
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Bartlett to Promote Jamaica at World Tourism Day Celebrations in Qatar

KINGSTON, Jamaica; September 26, 2017: Hon. Edmund Bartlett departed the island yesterday (September 25, 2017) to participate in the official celebration of World Tourism Day being hosted in Doha, Qatar, on September 27, 2017.
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Grenada Meeting To Map Tourism Restoration Action Plan for Caribbean

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, September 26, 2017: Key members of the newly formed United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Disaster Recovery Working Group for the Affected States in the Caribbean will convene in Grenada on October 9 to discuss how to assist tourism dependent member states recently ravaged by natural disasters.
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