Experienced Caribbean senior tourism executive Wayne Cummings is now the lead partner of Arya Resorts Management (ARM).

He will serve as the new company’s CEO.

Cummings has been in the tourism industry for over three decades, working his way up at Sandals Resorts International. Beginning as a management trainee he was appointed as general manager of several of the Sandals’ resorts before becoming director of business processes and administration.

Excelling at all given assignments, he later was appointed group commercial director of both Sandals and Appliance Traders Limited (ATL), both founded and still run by Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart.

He is generally acknowledged throughout the Caribbean as a highly effective operator in the tourism sector who has overseen many innovative changes.

Cummings is also past-president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA).

ARYA TO OFFER RANGE OF TOURISM SERVICES

Arya Resorts Management sees him leveraging his vast experience and management of one of the region’s largest and award-winning resorts. Cummings’ company will offer hospitality consultancy, training, quality control, advice on hotel management contracts and a host of other services that are indispensable to the sector which is one of the largest drivers of employment and foreign exchange earnings in the Caribbean.

Omar Robinson, who has been general manager of the prestigious and elegant Round Hill Hotel & Villas, will be the company’s chief operating officer. He too has a wealth of experience in hotel management and has served four terms as head of the JHTA.

Known as a progressive industry player, Robinson has continually championed tourism as an economic pillar of Jamaica and led the charge to see to it that the country safely and prudently reopened its tourism product  during the summer, after the COVID-19 virus had ravaged the world.

With Cummings and Robinson at the helm, Arya aims to add another dimension to the tourism industry, ensuring best practices and rigourous professionalism are brought to small, medium and large enterprises in the sector.

In August this year, during Independence Day celebrations, Cummings, reflecting on how far Jamaica has come, said: “The big difference for Jamaica is how we have evolved as a people. How we have evolved in terms of our art, our culture, our music specifically.”

“The pure vibe of Jamaican people may be different had we still been operating under British rule. Difficult to say, but I really think that where we have gotten to in 2020, we are stronger for who we have become. The period after the 60s was revolutionary for us, our people – men, women, children. How we have educated ourselves are all part and parcel of this very strong tourism product that we have become over time,” Cumming remarked further.