Janet Silvera, Senior Tourism Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

At least one Spanish investor has put on hold plans to construct a hotel, and two others have diverted their attention from Jamaica, as the Spaniards take a wait-and-see attitude to the country's investment climate.

The Gleaner has been reliably informed that Excellence Group, which had planned to build a 2,000-room resort in Oyster Bay, Trelawny, is pulling out all its foreign employees, has cancelled orders from its suppliers, is subdividing its land, and is seeking an outside partner.

Employment potential

The Excellence Group had estimated that the resort project would have provided employment for some 3,000 Jamaicans, while pumping more than US$400 million ($28 billion) during a five-year phased implementation.

Excellence Group has scaled down its plans considerably.

"We are rethinking the product," corporate representative Rafael Matas confirmed this week.

In addition to Excellence Group's decision to scale down investment plans here, two of the largest hotel groups in Spain - Barcelo and Sol Melia - have struck the island off their list of proposed investment locations. Barcelo is shifting its US$1 billion ($71 billion) of investment capital to elsewhere in the Caribbean.

"Barcelo and Sol Melia feel the investment climate here has become extremely unfriendly and antagonistic," a highly placed source told The Gleaner. "When you see your peers are not welcomed in a country, why would you even consider investing there?"

Riu site closed

The news comes at a time when Riu, the first Spanish hotel to invest in the island, has had its Montego Bay site closed by order of Prime Minister Bruce Golding who said the resort breached the law by constructing a fourth floor for which it had no permit from the St James Parish Council. The Riu Group has since denied the claims, arguing it had submitted in April 2007 its revised plans to the St James Parish Council, containing the three four-storey buildings.

In a move to quell concerns among Spanish investors, Daryl Vaz, state minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, is to meet today with the group at the Spanish Embassy in Kingston.

"We need to have regular contact between Government and the investors and to ensure that the government is still backing Spanish investment," Spanish Ambassador Jesús Silva told The Gleaner.

According to the ambassador, the current atmosphere has to be improved, because the Spanish are operating honest companies, of good quality and the best environmental practices.

Last week, a KPMG Travel, Leisure and Tourism Report said Jamaica had been listed as the Caribbean country with the most significant tourism-growth potential for 2008. This was largely a result of the new wave of investment pioneered by the Spanish chains.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com