Above: the Moon Palace Jamaica Grande is slated to open this year

By the Caribbean Journal staff

There are around 1,600 new hotel rooms set to come on stream in Jamaica over the next 18 months, according to Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill.

The rooms could help address a need McNeill said had arisen due to an “increase in airlift out of key markets.”

“These rooms will allow us to enjoy significant growth in our room stock and when they come on stream will result in Jamaica being able to experience another era of sustained success in our tourism sector,” he said during a sectoral presentation in Parliament this week.

Additionally, land acquisition and planning have advanced for an additional 1,500 new rooms beyond that, McNeill said.

The Minister pointed to a number of new brands that had already entered the market, from Royalton to Hyatt, as having “brought a greater degree of diversity to the character of our destination and our tourism product.”

“I welcome the international exposure that comes from the worldwide marketing of these new brands,” McNeill said.