Jamaica's Tourism Future Pegged to Luxury Product

The Jamaica Gleaner reports that the message coming from the fifth annual Master's of Business Administration conference, held at Strawberry Hill Hotel and Spa in Jamaica, is that luxury is key to the country's tourism growth. "Luxury is the future of the Jamaican tourism industry," said Adam Stewart, CEO of Sandals Resorts International. Chris Blackwell, owner of Island Outpost's boutique hotels, suggested Jamaica's tourism is heading back to its roots when Jamaica's hotels were all luxury level properties. "Luxury is where it's at," said Michelle Rollins, who, with her husband, the late John Rollins, developed the property in Rose Hall, St. James that is now the Ritz-Carlton hotel. In her view, Jamaica arrived again as a luxury destination in which developers were coming with "cash rather than plans," the paper reported.