AMATERRA, MARRIOTT TEAM UP IN JAMAICA

Jamaica’s Amaterra Jamaica Group has entered into a hotel management operator agreement with Marriott International.

Responding to consumers’ growing desire around the world for premium, worry-free vacations, Marriott International announced in August that it is launching an all-inclusive platform to serve this increasingly popular vacation segment. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, Marriott International’s portfolio currently encompasses more than 7,200 properties under 30 leading brands spanning 134 countries and territories.

The company plans to build its new platform by leveraging seven of its established full-service and luxury brands.

In partnering with Amaterra Jamaica Limited, Marriott will further expand its all-inclusive portfolio in popular, leisure destinations worldwide and bring the first Marriott Hotels branded all-inclusive property to Jamaica, providing its 137 million Marriott Bonvoy members with the opportunity to enjoy a new vacation option in the popular destination.

Amaterra’s 800-room flagship development will be located 25 miles east of Montego Bay airport on the island’s north coast and is set on two miles of white-sand beach. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2020 and completed in 2022.

Commenting on the project, Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said that the development forms a key part of the “largest expansion of hotel room stock in Jamaica’s history representing the most powerful week in investment developments for the tourism industry, with the Marriot’s entry being a major step in the right direction.”

Bartlett also listed an array of initiatives already bearing fruit in deepening linkages, broadening human capital development for tourism workers and spreading the benefits of tourism further afield.