JAMPRO hotel deals exceed US$4.2b as one in ten projects stall

More than US$4.2 billion in hotel investment has been facilitated through JAMPRO, Jamaica’s investment promotion agency, though about 10 per cent of that pipeline is still held up — among them a Marriott-branded development in Trelawny.

According to Government of Jamaica filings submitted this month to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the projects facilitated in the fiscal year that closed in March are projected to add 8,943 hotel rooms and generate an estimated 25,705 jobs. The push forms part of a wider drive to restore a tourism industry hit hard by Hurricane Melissa in October.

“Jamaica was severely impacted by Hurricane Melissa, which resulted in approximately 6,200 rooms out of circulation at the end of 2025,” the filings stated. The storm struck major properties in the principal resort belts, including Montego Bay, Negril, Ocho Rios and the south coast.

JAMPRO backed 13 major hotel schemes over the latest fiscal year. The filing cautioned that “figures are calculated based on the data provided as some information was undisclosed at the time of reporting”.

A small group of large ventures dominates the list. Harmony Cove, a US$1 billion integrated resort planned for Trelawny with 1,600 rooms, has been under consideration for over a decade. Filings say it has received “provisional approval granted to begin ground works, and some infrastructure works have begun.”

Moon Palace Phase 2, a US$700 million scheme for 1,350 rooms, is “currently going through approval process,” with “resort design and building plans” still unfinished. Grand Palladium Phase II — a US$569 million, 948-room expansion in Hanover — is likewise before the authorities for approval, as is a US$200 million Viva Wyndham Resorts proposal for 1,000 rooms.

Four projects, however, are disclosed as delayed. The 850-room Karisma Hotel Group Sugarcane Bay scheme, valued at US$216 million, is “delayed indefinitely as the Karisma Group are trying to sell the subdivided lots to other hotel brands.” The 1,200-room Amaterra Resort “branded by Marriott” in Trelawny, signed in 2019, remains “finalising financing.” The 180-room Grand Hotel Excelsior is waiting for a new “timeline to be communicated,” while the 800-room Jewel Montego Bay has been “paused for discussions.”

The Trelawny Marriott venture is distinct from a Montego Bay deal revealed last week, under which Marriott International and Catalonia Hotels & Resorts plan a 522-room all-inclusive property slated to open in 2028.

Visitor arrivals surpassed 1.0 million in the first quarter of 2026, yet that was 17 per cent below the same period a year earlier. Total visitor spending in 2025 slipped 5.6 per cent to US$4.0 billion, from US$4.3 billion in 2024. “This decrease was primarily attributable to the impact of Hurricane Melissa in October 2025,” the filing stated, noting that average spend per person per night held steady at US$192.

Direct employment in hotels dropped 18 per cent year on year, to roughly 36,000 people in December 2025 — a level the report said remained “30 per cent below the number of persons employed at the end of 2019 before the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.”