Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Expansion of Grand Palladium Hotels and Resorts
Keynote Address
By
Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Jamaica
At the
Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Expansion of Grand Palladium Hotels and Resorts
On
February 18, 2025
_______________________________________________________________
Thank you, Madam Master of Ceremonies.
Let me acknowledge His Worship, the Mayor of Lucea.
The world’s leading Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Edmund Bartlett,
Members of Parliament,
Senators who are here as well, including the Opposition spokesperson on tourism.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, all.
And of course, Abel Matutes.
It is a wonderful morning, and I don’t need your reaffirmation for that. We have tried to get it out of you. It is a wonderful morning, and it is both an honour and a privilege for me to stand before you today as we break ground for the expansion project by the Palladium Hotel Group, a project that not only signifies growth for this esteemed brand but also marks another significant investment in Jamaica and in our growing tourism industry.
I extend a warm welcome to our partners from Groupo Empresas Matutes and the Palladium Hotel Group who have demonstrated unwavering confidence in Jamaica as the destination for investment. Your commitment to expanding your footprint here is a testament to the strength of our partnership and the boundless potential of our nation. Today, as we celebrate this momentous occasion, we are not just breaking ground on a physical infrastructure, we are laying the foundation for a future where tourism in Jamaica is more inclusive, sustainable and innovative than ever before.
This expansion project aligns seamlessly with our new national pivot towards robust and inclusive growth. For most of the last decade, we have as a country focused on fiscal consolidation and debt reduction. The scale and speed of Jamaica’s economic turnaround has no parallel amongst our peers in developing countries globally. Friends, I want you to consider this. Unemployment is at a historic low of approximately 3.5% creating opportunities for many Jamaica.
Ten years ago, the unemployment rate was three times this or more. Our debt to GDP ratio, and when I say this, I know that there are staff members listening who may not fully grasp what this statistic is, and what it means, and what it means to them personally and I don’t propose to go into an economic exposition at the moment but just accept that it is a good thing that what you owe is now far less than what you produce in any one year. If you were to take all that you produced to pay off the debt, you would have something remaining. Ten years ago, that wasn’t the case.
If you produced a hundred units of whatever it is, and you used those one hundred units of whatever it is to pay off your debt, you would still have about 50% owing. Now, that’s not the case so your debt compared to what you produce is much smaller. In fact, you might be interested to know that the debt to GDP come the next financial year will be somewhere around 68%. That’s the lowest it has been since the early 1970s. So, say whatever you want to say about things not going in the right direction. Get your mind around these facts. Stop listening to the nonsense that is on social media that is misguiding you and carrying you all over the place into all kinds of rabbit holes of considerations that don’t elevate your mind. That was not the case 10 years ago with our debt as a nation.
And what does that mean to have a debt that is constantly declining and now lower than what you produce? It means my friends, people who are working in the hotel industry here, it means that the government can sustainably spend on the things that matter to you. Governments can always spend even when they are in a high-debt situation, they just borrow more and pay high interest rates. But you see, in our culture, the average citizen separates the finances of the government from their finances, and it only becomes a reality when the issue of tax and taxation comes to confront them. It doesn’t matter if the government is borrowing more or promising to spend more until the budget is read and the government says, well, in order to pay back the debts and to give you all that you want, we have to increase your taxes and then government becomes a big problem.
For the last decade you have had a government that has not had to come to you to say, well, to give you the things you want, we have to increase your taxes. We will be presenting a budget this year, and I have been saying this now for about 10 budgets now, we will be presenting a budget with no net new taxes. And in fact, this budget will have no new taxes. So, think of that very carefully now, isn’t that going in the right direction? Which other direction would you want the country to go other than to have the fiscal stability that your government is not a burden on you?
Now, I know it makes some people uncomfortable to confront these facts because they have no response, but I don’t mind because we are speaking things here that are incontrovertible. This government has run the economy in the right way and there is no question that the Jamaican economy is going in the right direction. Our credit ratings are at their highest levels ever. We are just three upgrades away from investment-grade status and when our debt goes below 60%, we will improve in our ratings. After 57 consecutive years of deficits since 1966, we have achieved a balance of payment surplus on our current account for the past two fiscal years. We have never done that in the past 57 years. We have done that now. Our net international reserves reached a record high of 5.6 billion dollars at the close of 2024. That’s the highest it has ever been, 5.6 billion dollars. Which other direction do you want the country to go?
We recorded 12 consecutive quarters of economic growth after the pandemic before we were hit by Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Raphael in the same year. And after the temporary setback, I’m certain, I’m confident that we will return to growth and I say that because the signs are there. Business and consumer confidence are both on the rise. Business confidence rebounded by 7.3% nearing the 2019 high while consumer confidence rose by 4% over the previous quarter.
We are making significant gains as well in crime reduction. Homicides are down by 19%. Yes, homicides are down. Let me put it the way you’ve always heard it, murders are down by 19%. For the period 1st of January to February 15 this year, murders are down 24% compared to the same period last year and now we are at an all-time low for major crimes. Crime was never this low. The last time we had seen these numbers would be in 2001. So, we are moving the country in the right direction.
Now we are in the season where we are talking about voting. Let me say this, businesses vote. And you know how businesses vote? They vote by making investments. Five hundred million euros is a big vote on Jamaica. Consider it carefully, for any investor to put that much capital at risk, especially in a jurisdiction that is not their home territory, this is what you call foreign direct investment. And I want to acknowledge and thank His Excellency, the Ambassador from Spain for that country support for Jamaica’s tourism. You mentioned that you have a portfolio here in excess of two billion euros invested right here so that’s a second big vote that someone from another country would analyze our risk situation here and say, I feel comfortable putting down that level of investment; significant.
I want you to also consider that businesses vote by not just putting up the buildings because they can’t take it up back, it’s here, but they vote by expanding employment by making a commitment to the people of the country for income from the investment. And I see where the direct employment will go as high as about 1,500 during the construction phase and probably about 5,600 direct and induced employment as a result of this expansion; that’s a big vote on Jamaica. It’s clear businesses feel that the macroeconomic indicators are going in the right direction, which is why Minister Bartlett can say we have over 6000 rooms that we will be breaking ground for or have already started this year: massive vote of confidence in the government of Jamaica. But I want to be clear, and I’m now speaking to the staff who may be gathered and listening and who probably will hear this voice coming through the speakers and resonating in their ears, that we want you to vote as well and we want you to vote for the government because the government is doing the right thing for you.
Recently, there have been issues regarding the status of workers, their compensation and their conditions of work. Again, another uncomfortable subject but Jamaica is a democracy, and these issues have to be dealt with in the public domain so that the public understands. I gave certain directives to Minister Bartlett to engage the hotel sector to say let us take an enlightened approach because the tourism product is not just the lovely buildings that are going to be built. The tourism product is even more so the people who will give that warm welcoming smile to your guests to endear them to return over and over and over again. And in the budget, either myself or Minister Bartlett will make certain announcements. Abel and the ambassador alluded to it that when you visited for the tour, you would have had certain discussions and negotiations that I’m sure the workers are going to be very happy to hear.
We gave directives as well. We didn’t just come up here and talk about it must be inclusive and innovative. No, we gave directions that we cannot continue to have the tourism product developed in an exclusive way. Meaning that we build resorts which it would appear that when you step off the main road and into the resort, you’re in a different world. That’s not the kind of tourism that we want. The entire Jamaica should look like a resort. Yes, I don’t stand here happy that we are driving on some roads that look like you’re going on safari and then you come into these lovely circumstances. No, it’s not two Jamaica’s. It’s one Jamaica, and we intend to build out one Jamaica infrastructure that is world-class for everyone.
A part of that infrastructure which has happened in the past and government just didn’t deal with it, is that 10 years ago and beyond we would have been announcing the development of 950 rooms and there would be no consideration for where the workers were going to service these rooms would live. Now we have made it clear, if you’re going to build hotels in Jamaica, you must make provision for the workers. It’s not going to be the case again where the hotels look nice and then across the road, it’s an informal settlement and all the problems that come with informal settlements. I’m happy to see and I congratulate you and commend you, Abel, that the Palladium Group will be building 550 accommodation solutions for workers along with the 950 rooms. That is how we make tourism inclusive and sustainable.
The government will also be announcing its own project to ensure that our tourism workers have dwellings and solutions that ensure that when they come to work, they don’t have to worry about going home and being wet by the rain when it falls so that they can give a genuine smile to the visitors; that is how we take care of equity and fairness in our society. You would see, therefore, that the government has announced certain policy decisions that really constitute what we call a pivot. We’re not coming off the space that we have defended, which is the fiscal management of the economy, but we are turning our attention to other problems in the economy. I’m not saying that we have solved the economic problems, but I think we are at a good place where the economy has developed resilience, and it is strong because we are disciplined in the management of the economy. But now it’s the time to turn to the other things that create robust growth. And what are some of these things?
In the pivot, we talk about the aspire agenda. We must be looking beyond ourselves and I head into the future, and this means creating access to economic opportunities for all Jamaicans. It means safety and security. It means investing in people, human capital development. It means investing in infrastructure. It means reforming the bureaucracy. And it means economic diversification and new industries and if you put all of that together, you get ASPIRE.
Let’s look at access to economic opportunities for all. Minister Bartlett always speaks about linkages, that we have to get tourism more integrated into the local economy and it’s a little bit difficult to do that because of the historical evolution of tourism in Jamaica. While I was sitting beside Abel, while the minister was speaking, no discourtesy to you minister, but I just wanted to confirm some news reports that I had seen before that over tourism was such a concern for Spain. The thought was sparked by His Excellency pointing out that the number of visitors would be probably twice the population or more of Spain. And some of you who follow international news would know that in some of the well-visited cities in Spain, there are protests that over-tourism has caused the rental market for locals, the price of rentals to increase and that locals can’t get to use certain facilities. One strategy to deal with over-tourism is to increase the fees for visiting some attractions, a market tool to regulate the demand.
Jamaica does not have that problem, but the other side of the problem is that we need to get more of our tourists into our townships, into our communities, into our markets, interacting with our people, buying the goods and services from our local businesses. We need to do this. We have given certain directives in this regard, one of them is that we expect that our investors here will provide our farmers in particular with long-term supply contracts. That is critical. It’s hard for a farmer to put in a crop and not know that if in the next six months, he will be called upon to supply. The tourism sector must make a commitment to our farmers and not just our farmers, but to all the people who supply with long-term supply contracts. The question about whether or not they have the capacity to deliver and whether or not they have the quality of the delivery of the product, those questions can’t be answered until they get the opportunity and that is a critical part of the ASPIRE agenda. We must give our local producers who supply the tourism industry long-term supply contracts so that they can invest in building capacity so that they can invest in making the quality the standard that you would like.
So that is a directive that if we don’t see it happen by virtue of this kind of moral suasion, then we will have to go further to ensure that as our tourism grows, it is genuinely growing in a sustainable and fair way, which for me, this means everybody will prosper. I’m sure that if we get our producers up to the mark, it is cheaper for our investors to do business here than to import from elsewhere and so that is part of the pivot and the directive that we have given to the tourism industry regarding how we want to see our tourism develop.
We talk about safety and security. Yes, reducing the murder rate, reducing crimes generally, that is for the entire society, but it is also of strategic value. We have done a study on Brand Jamaica and one of the things that is particularly impacting Brand Jamaica is the association with violence. It’s not talked about, people deal with it quietly but let’s be real, the gangs through their activities whether it is scamming or other such activities have had an impact on the number of persons who would come here. And the impact is primarily through what we all have been struggling with, these travel advisories that have had an impact so we can’t operate as if these challenges don’t exist, we must deal with it. It is in our economic interest to bring crime under control and this government has taken the steps like no other government has to truly grapple with this issue to bring it under control.
Jamaica has an incredibly sexy mystique and sometimes, danger is a part of that, but we could do three times what we are doing now in tourism arrivals if there wasn’t this hesitancy about crime and safety and security. Bear in mind, however, and I must say this, that the impact of crime on tourists is very small. I’m not going to use the word negligible because one person impacted is not to be neglected, but it is very small, but the impression that it gives is very large and so we have to deal with this. We have to genuinely reduce crime and murders in the country and also deal with the perception of it locally and globally. And that is a part of the pivot that we are working on, and you’re seeing that pivot taking place.
As it relates to human capital development, Minister Bartlett spoke about that. We took that decision five years ago to develop the institutes, to train the workers, and that is going very well. I don’t think anyone here can contest that the government has made massive investments in infrastructure and I’m going to deal with two points in one. For the last nine years, Jamaica has had the highest level of capital expenditure in the budget. No other era can compare to this. The challenge, however, has been on two levels. The first level is the bureaucracy simply cannot cope with the level of capital investments that the government is making. This is the first time really articulating the problem in this way but the truth is that the conversion of the capital budget into the actual physical capital, it is very slow. And I’m certain that even the Matutes Group here in trying to get this done and other projects and other tourism persons who are here will say that this process of permitting and approvals, it moves at a very slow pace. Jamaica’s problem is not that we can’t finance the capital. Jamaica’s problem is to develop the bureaucracy that can move the capital along quickly that can convert the budgetary allocation into the road that you want; that’s the challenge that we have now.
So yes, I can tell you immediately that we have some very good plans to improve the road that runs along here to build a new road inland which will be a proper highway to bypass Lucea and Hopewell, to make massive investments in the town of Hopewell to turn Hopewell into a charming old town with the historical sites there properly developed to reap the tourism benefits from them. The challenge, of course, is that the town of Negril, Hopewell and Lucea, they have administrative issues, particularly Negril and so we will have to figure out how we change the municipal arrangements to ensure that they are managed properly.
And then, of course, economic diversification. What are we going to do to diversify the tourism product? Jamaica is known sun, sea, and sand. We are adding some other ‘S’ to it. We are adding safety and security. We are adding seamlessness. We’re building up our tourism. I don’t know what other S’s you’re thinking of, but I am adding safety, security, seamlessness and sustainability to our tourism product. But the truth is, tourism is a wide spectrum of opportunities and activities, and it can’t be that we only focus on just this particular market in tourism. We must diversify tourism so another directive that has been given to Minister Bartlett is to start the diversification in the real diverse town of Negril where Negril has a special kind of tourism which we don’t want to change. We want to enhance that tourism experience so the directive has been given to Minister Bartlett to put together a team to enhance the tourism experience in Negril and to look at developing tourism in the south coast of St Catherine and the south coast of St Thomas, so we are working very hard to make sure that the ASPIRE pivot is well grounded in tourism.
I thought I would take this opportunity that you have given to me, Abel, to take the Jamaican people into my knowledge as to what the government is doing and to give them the information so that they can understand so that they can place the reality within the context of what is happening. I’m happy that Spain is investing in Jamaica. Spain was the first historical, let me use the euphemistic term, investor in Jamaica and Spain is back again but this time we’re doing it differently. This time we’re going to make sure that the people of Jamaica benefit from the investment in a significant way.
Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your attention.