Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

The positive foreign direct investment and the spin-off on the island's tourism industry were on show on Thursday as His Excellency Governor-General The Most Honourable Professor Kenneth Hall and his wife, Mrs. Hall, toured the country's multi-billion dollar developments on the north coast.

Accompanied by Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies, Tourism Minister, Aloun Assamba, chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board, Dennis Morrison, chairman of Jamaica Trade and Invest, Peter Bunting, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Jennifer Griffiths and Senator Noel Sloley, the delegation's first stop was the Sangster International Airport.

The next stop was the US$150 million luxury- styled Palmyra Resort and Spa and their neighbours Shoppes at Rose Hall.

Positive impact

Shoppes at Rose Hall, which houses some 30 stores, 12 of them duty-free and three restaurants, is expected to have a positive impact on the tourism capital's economy. This landmark location opens officially in July.

Right across the road, the country's first state-of-the-art convention centre is to be built on 35 acres of land. After a visit here, the delegation's next stop was the city's newest resort, Iberostar Rose Hall beach.

Here, champagne, shrimp cocktail and cold towels were the precursor to an afternoon of filet mignon, red and white wine in one of the hotel's restaurants.

Jamaica Trade and Invest's Lisa Bell, Dr. Rae Davis, Kumar Samtani, Sunil Khiatani, Indru Dadlani, Denny Chandiram, Alan Daswani and Prem Mahtani were in attendance.