The Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association has a new president, Caribbean Journal has learned. 

The association has tapped hotelier Robin Russell to the role, it announced this week. 

Russell succeeds outgoing President Clifton Reader. 

In a statement, Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett expressed his “deepest and strongest appreciation” to Russell, the longtime proprietor of the Deja Resort in Montego Bay. 

“He has also championed the cause of the industry as chairman of the Montego Bay Chapter (of the JHTA) and has gained the respect and the admiration of his peers to the extent of being now elevated to president of this very prestigious organization,” Bartlett said. “The government and the Ministry of Tourism wish to embrace his election and to offer him the fullest support so that he can succeed as the others have before him, and in his own way make his mark and excel in the way that we know he is quite capable.”

Russell succeeds Reader, who had served consecutive terms as president. 

“The recovery that Jamaica has been able to achieve is in no small measure attributable to Clifton Reader’s leadership in the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association during the period,” Bartlett said.