(HM Lopesan) Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (c) greets the Chief Executive Officer of Lopesan Group, Francisco Lopez (3rd r) at the Jamaica Stand, World Travel Market in London, UK, yesterday. He is joined by Senior Advisor and Strategist, Delano Seiveright (2nd r); Director General of the Lopesan Hotel Division, Jose Alba (r); President of LS Invest AG (IFA Hotels), Santiago de Armas (3rd l); CEO of the Hospiten Group, Pedro Luis Cobiella Beauvais (l) and another Spanish private sector executive (2nd l).

A major international hotel group, Lopesan, with over 17,000 hotel rooms across Europe, Asia and the Caribbean, called on Minister of Tourism,  Hon. Edmund Bartlett and his team yesterday (November 7) at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, United Kingdom, to announce that they are urgently seeking to develop a 1,000-room luxury resort on the island.

Bartlett was joined by the Chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), John Lynch and Senior Advisor and Strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright. Lopesan’s team was led by CEO Francisco Lopez and Director General of the Hotel Division, Jose Alba.

Bartlett expressed appreciation for the Group’s strong investment push and noted that development would generate over 2,500 direct and indirect jobs, and positively impact scores of farmers, manufacturers, small businesses and other stakeholders.

The news comes as the tourism sector prepares for the official opening of the recently renovated US$30 million Royalton White Sands resort in Trelawny next month. The sector is also preparing for the openings of two major resorts before summer next year – the first phase 1,000 rooms of the new Princess Resort in Hanover and the over 753-room new RIU Palace Aquarelle resort in Trelawny, creating around 2,500 new jobs.

The WTM London, one of the world’s largest tourism trade shows, facilitates £2.8 billion in industry deals and has some 5,000 exhibitors from 182 countries and regions and more than 51,000 participants.