Meliá Braco Village Resort Set To Officially Open In January

THE 225-room government-owned Braco Village is scheduled to officially reopen for the 2015/16 winter tourist season in January as the Meliá Braco Village.

It is expected to provide hundreds of jobs for residents within the Braco community and other nearby areas.

Earlier this year at the groundbreaking ceremony, Minister of Tourism and Entertainment Dr. Wykeham McNeill welcomed Meliá to the growing list of top hotel and resort chains that have indicated their interest in investing in Jamaica.

The Minister said then it was a testimony to the confidence that overseas investors have in Jamaica as a tourist destination of choice.

“As minister I want to welcome the Meliá Group; it’s one of the largest hotel chains in the world, and their coming to Jamaica in this expansion program is a show of confidence in our destination and in Brand Jamaica,” Dr McNeill said then.

“I believe we’re going to have a long and successful relationship,” he added.

Now, the newly refurbished property has opened its doors to the first overseas guests on Christmas Day.

The party of 12 from the United States of America was met on arrival at the Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay, by Minister of Labor and Social Security Dr. Fenton Ferguson, who also personally welcomed them to the 232-room resort.

The hotel will host a number of local and overseas guests over the Christmas holiday.

The 84-acre property, owned by the National Insurance Fund — an agency of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security will be managed by Melia Hotel group under a 15-year lease agreement.

The property was refurbished at a total cost of US$23.5M.

Jamaica’s winter tourist season officially began on December 15, 2015, and tourism stakeholders are anticipating significant growth in this sector of the economy.