JAMAICA: Government Announces Renovation Of Milk River Hotel And Spa

Jamaica’s government is seizing on the country’s growing tourist arrivals to focus rehabilitative efforts on a diverse group of hotels, resort areas and traveler amenities beyond the main resort areas of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.

Earlier this month Jamaica’s Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment announced a $400,000 restoration of the west wing of the Milk River Hotel and Spa, in Clarendon.

Financed by the government’s Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), the construction project is expected is expected to conclude at the end of September and include an upgrade of the 20-room, government-owned hotel’s electrical and plumbing systems.

Repairs to walls, ceilings and floors will also be made, along with painting and decorating. The Milk River Hotel and Spa is a historic property whose nine mineral baths, fed by a mineral spring at the foot of a hillside where Carpenter's Mountains meet the Vere Plains, are said to have restorative powers.

The hotel has long been a popular pilgrimage for international travelers seeking hydrotherapeutic treatments. Rehabilitation work continues to take place at the hotel said Wykeham McNeill, Jamaica’s tourism minister.

“To date, the TEF has expended some $600,000 [for] the expansion of the pool, remodeling to facilitate disabled-friendly access, general refurbishing and rehabilitation of the property and major landscaping,” he said.

McNeill said Jamaica’s cabinet recently provided the tourism ministry approval for the establishment of an “enterprise team” to guide the development of the Milk River Hotel and Spa in collaboration with the Development Bank of Jamaica.

A 10-member team will make recommendations for the management of the property including the development of adjacent land parcels.