The Amaterra Group is to break ground tomorrow for the first 1,200 rooms of a multi-billion dollar integrated resort development in Stewart Castle, Trelawny.

The integrated resort development project will be one of the largest in Jamaica. It will include the construction of 5,000 hotel rooms, an industrial park, an entertainment and shopping complex and various local amenities.

Amaterra Jamaica Ltd, is a mixed-use land development company incorporated in Jamaica in July 2002 and is the master developer for the Amaterra Resort and related companies.

Jamaican developer Keith Russell, a co-partner of Amaterra, said in an interview in December, 2013, that his project spanned 850 acres in Duncans, Trelawny, including 3.5 miles of beach, and has already secured approvals for development.

"We have sub-division approval, beach development approval, and we are approved for a 2,200 room hotel and golf course. It is the only project that has all approvals," he said.

The mega-hotel development falls under the Casino Gaming (Application for Declaration of Approved Integrated Resort Development) Regulations 2012 and the Casino Gaming (Prescribed Games) Regulations 2012.

The Easter tradition in Jamaica is for gifts of bun and cheese but the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association (JHTA) went several notches above that last week providing an early Easter treat and a computer for the caregivers, administrators and children of the Maxfield Park Children’s Home in Kingston.

JHTA Executive Director, Camille Needham and President, Omar Robinson accompanied by Vana Taylor, first vice president and Robert Headley, third vice president, presented the computer to Winston Bowen, the Home’s Manager, on behalf of the JHTA Charity Fund.

On Wednesday March 27, 2019 members of the JHTA Executive met with officials from the Ministry of Tourism to discuss issues affecting the Tourism Industry as well as upcoming development within the sector.

Nineteen finalists vied for top prizes and the honour of being named National Individual and Organisation Champion at the glitzy Tourism Service Excellence Awards dinner at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall on Saturday.

TOURIST arrivals in Jamaica are projected to climb to 1.5 million visitors for the 2018-19 winter season, which ends later this month.

According to Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, the record visitor arrivals — of which 900,000 are stopover visitors – should rake in US$1.6 million in revenue for the period December to April 2019.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — The Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines (CAL) today announced that it would begin a non-stop service from Barbados to Jamaica from April 15, subject to government approval.

The airline said that it would carry out the service every Monday and Friday between the two destinations.