Over US$200 Million Infrastructure Upgrade For St. Thomas

The Government will be spending more than US$200 million to develop the infrastructure in St. Thomas to position the parish as a new prime tourism destination.

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, made the disclosure as he opened the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (April 5).

The works include developing Rocky Point Beach, establishing wayfinding stations in Yallahs, rehabilitating the road to Bath Fountain Hotel, as well as leveraging strategic partnerships to develop heritage sites such as Fort Rocky and the Morant Bay Monument.

Other arms of government are supporting this thrust by undertaking significant upgrades to the road and water pipeline networks.

Mr. Bartlett said the intention is to attract a new demographic of visitors to the parish with high net worth who will be “big spenders”.

“We are going to have lifestyle tourism in that area… . We are going to have a new look based on a new approach that brings new jobs and new facilities,” he said.

The Tourism Minister said that by 2030, this initiative is projected to bring tremendous economic, infrastructure and investment benefits.

These include 4,170 new hotel rooms for St. Thomas, 230,000 overnight visitors, US$244 million in visitor expenditure, US$22 million in tax contribution, as well as 13,000 direct and indirect jobs

The initiative is also expected to result in tourism contributing US$174 million to gross domestic product (GDP), US$508 million in private investments, and US$33 million in public-private partnerships.