With the anticipated opening of the Park Hyatt Hotel in St. Kitts in March 2017, Vance Amory, Premier of Nevis and Minister of Labour with responsibility for Social Security in the Federal Government, was given a briefing about the hotel and its plans to contribute to the development of St. Kitts and Nevis and its economy.

Park Hyatt’s General Manager, Julian Moore, met with Premier Amory to update him on the project’s development.

“He has come to discuss some of the matters which we require as a Government for the Park Hyatt opening, to know and to understand, so that we make the opening and the involvement of (the hotel) in St. Kitts and Nevis’ economy as trouble free and as effective and beneficial as possible,” said Premier Amory. “There are issues that we would like to see in terms of employment of local labour. There is a matter of the social security, which has to be done and other important matters.”

The job creation opportunities were highlighted by Premier Amory.

“Certainly, we as a Government are very interested in the fact that your opening in March will see an increase in employment and as Minister of Labour I want to encourage all of our people who have some interest and some training in the hospitality industry (to) respond to your advertisement and indicate what areas they would like to be involved in.”

The Senior Minister noted that tourism is the main industry of St. Kitts and Nevis and the aim is to make it fundamental to growth in the economy for the prosperity of all.

General Manager Moore described the Park Hyatt as a brand that is very excited to begin operations in the Federation. He noted that it has gained a lot of interest and focus on a global scale, but stressed the importance of the hotel to the country and the people.

“We need to make sure that the hotel conveys the essence of our destination and the key to that is really the people,” said Mr. Moore. “So with regards to local recruitment that is our top priority. We are really very focused on reaching out (and) trying to identify those individuals [who have] the skills set and the knowledge firstly, so that they can provide the hotel experience that really has a local flavour and at the same time identify those individuals who have the desire to build a career in the industry that we can then educate, train and nurture to enable them to go into a full career in hospitality.”

Mr. Moore stated that with regards to Social Security, management must ensure that they definitely have 100 percent compliance. He thanked Premier Amory for affording him the opportunity to discuss pertinent matters prior to the opening of the hotel and reassured him that all will be done to ensure that locals and the country benefit significantly.