Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Bartlett Heads to the Dominican Republic for the Americas Investment Forum
Tourism Minister Scheduled to Tour New Moon Palace Resort in Punta Cana
KINGSTON, Jamaica– Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, departs the island this afternoon for a high-level working visit to the Dominican Republic, where he will represent Jamaica as a featured panelist at the Americas Investment Forum in Santo Domingo and tour one of the Caribbean’s newest mega-resorts.
Minister Bartlett is expected to arrive in Punta Cana later this afternoon, for an on-the-ground inspection of the newly established Moon Palace Hotel, a flagship addition to the Dominican Republic’s accommodation portfolio.. The visit will give the tourism minister first-hand insight into the property’s design, operations and integration into the wider Punta Cana tourism ecosystem, ahead of his participation in regional investment discussions. The property serves as a model for the Moon Palace The Grand Montego Bay luxury resort, now being built in St. James.
On July 1, he will travel to Santo Domingo, where on July 2 he joins a distinguished panel of government and industry leaders at the Americas Investment Forum, which will be held at the JW Marriott Hotel. The Forum is affiliated with the World Investment Conference 2026 and is being jointly organized by ProDominicana and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA).
Minister Bartlett will participate in a panel discussion under the topic “Building a Regional Tourism Integrated Strategy,” joining counterparts from across the hemisphere to examine how investment promotion agencies and governments can align to attract capital into sustainable tourism and related sectors.
“Tourism does not grow in isolation. Our success depends on how well we collaborate across the region, share intelligence, and align our investment strategies so that the Caribbean and the wider Americas can confidently compete on the global stage,” said Minister Bartlett ahead of his departure.
Minister Bartlett added that his participation in the Americas Investment Forum reflects Jamaica’s broader push to position itself as a serious destination for tourism-linked investment.
The forum aims to position the Americas as a premier international investment destination, mobilizing capital toward strategic sectors including sustainable tourism, while fostering investment partnerships and dialogue on opportunities across the region.
The tourism minister further noted that the Moon Palace tour holds particular relevance for Jamaica’s own development ambitions, including his long-stated vision for an integrated tourism innovation township.
“What the Dominican Republic has built in Punta Cana offers valuable lessons for us as we move forward with our plans for a tourism innovation township in Jamaica. I want to see, up close, how scale, innovation and destination planning come together in a market that has become a global benchmark for resort development. We will take what is relevant, adapt it to our context, and use it to sharpen our own model,” he said.
The minister is scheduled to return to Jamaica on Friday, July 3, 2026.
