The Princess Resorts will add another dimension to Jamaica’s tourism industry in 2025 by developing a casino.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the casino, once completed, will be Jamaica’s first since the enactment of the Casino Gaming Act in March 2010, paving the way for the approval of licensing legislation in June of that year.

Managing Director Enrico Pezzoli announced the development of the casino at the official opening of Princess Grand Jamaica and Princess Senses The Mangrove on December 12, 2024. The two resorts were constructed to the tune of US$400 million and have a combined 1,005 rooms and several overwater suites.

“These two resorts promise to elevate Jamaica’s all-inclusive experience and draw more tourists to our shores than ever before,” he said before adding, “Princess is proud to be the first in Jamaica to offer a full-service style casino where guests can enjoy a state-of-the-art gaming lounge and at the same time world-class food and beverage. Construction has already started, and we are planning to open our casino by the fourth quarter of 2025.”

Pezzoli also disclosed that in its first week of operation, the rating platform Tripadvisor has positioned Princess Grand Jamaica at number two in Jamaica. The current staff complement of 1,400 will be increased to 1,700 when the resort “is in full capacity in a few weeks”.

Responding to the announcement, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett welcomed the announcement of the first casino and lauded the owner of Princess Hotels and Resorts, Roberto Cabrera Plana and his family “on the great investment that they have made here in Jamaica”.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness and Minister Bartlett led the cutting of the ribbon to mark the official opening. In his remarks, Holness described the resort as “one of the most beautiful hotels that I have seen”, adding that “a major selling point” of the resort is every room with a sea view. In this regard, he commended the architects for an amazing job.

“I also want to commend the workmen who have put their labour into this; many of them are from this parish, and all over Jamaica, and I want to acknowledge their work in this achievement,” the prime minister said.

Attributing this and other developments slated in tourism to the fact that Jamaica had achieved stability, Holness underscored that Jamaica needed to pivot with “speed and efficiency in… improving infrastructure to support this amazing investment, and most importantly, to ensure that the people of Jamaica benefit from the stability”.

On this note, Holness reaffirmed his commitment to completing the Hopewell Bypass and Lucea Bypass as part of the investment in fixing the town of Lucea with its potential as a tourist attraction.

“We have already started the plans; we already have the alignment for the bypass and in the next budget we will be making allocations to begin,” he assured.

“We are going to create the best tourism corridor in the Caribbean when we have completed that bypass from Montego Bay straight through to Negril,” he declared. “We have some excellent plans for Negril, including a new airport, including two parks; one will be a beach park and one will be an echo park.”

The prime minister also announced plans to declare Negril a special investment area “to recreate the whole energy in Negril, to get back Negril as the pulse of tourism.”