Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has hailed the late veteran hotelier and tourism stalwart, Louis Grant, as a true ambassador and patriot of the highest order.

Bartlett said Grant, who died on March 6, was a trailblazer and a man who embodied everything that is good about the tourism industry.

“I have known Louis Grant for many years as a member of the Sandals family and as a friend. He epitomised everything that is decent… a true professional and a man who repeatedly would go beyond the call of duty in the interest of his country,” he said.

Bartlett said he was saddened to have heard the news of Grant’s death, noting that the country has lost “a giant at his craft” and a man whose “passion for tourism” was second to none.

“It’s a tremendous loss. On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and the entire tourism family…I send condolences to his family and his legion of friends,” he said.

Owner of Taj Mahal Plaza in Ocho Rios, St Ann, Sanju Chatani, said Grant was “a decent man with a great work ethic and love for people”.

‘A SPECIAL TALENT’

For the Ocho-Rios-based Double V Plaza’s owner, Colin Mills, the sector has lost a true friend and “a mover and shaker”.

“Louis was a special talent… a man who could make things happen. He worked very well with people. I have always had a great working relationship with him… always the consummate gentleman and certainly a tourism icon,” Mills added.

Grant spent more than 60 years in the tourism industry, 25 of which were spent with the Sandals Group in Jamaica and St Lucia. He made his tourism debut as a bar cashier at the Tower Isle Hotel in the 1950s
and would later move to the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) office in Chicago in the United States (US).

On his return to Jamaica, he continued to serve the sector in the area of hotel management.