Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett says he has no intention of responding to Tuesday's bashing by hotel mogul Gordon "Butch" Stewart.
When contacted for a response on Tuesday night Mr. Bartlett said he had nothing to say on the matter.
Mr. Stewart, who heads the Sandals hotel chain, unleashed a stinging criticism of the Government and in particular the Tourism Minister for their lack of foresight in the development of the hotel sector.
He was speaking at a press conference in Kingston.
Mr. Stewart cited as an example the government's recently announced plans to cut out tax waivers for some sectors like manufacturing.
He said it was more evidence of policy hurting business.
“There is some talk about waivers right now, it is all a joke, it’s all a fallacy. There are no incentives in the hotel sector more than if you build a hotel you get 15 years of importing operational equipment, not linen, not china, not food, not booze, the stove in the kitchen, the tiles in the bathroom for 15 years,” Mr. Stewart said.
“The problem is that when you get to 15 years that’s when you need the stuff to be fixed and the so called incentive runs out,”
Mr. Stewart added that Mr. Bartlett has much to learn.
“The Minister of Tourism yaps and yaps and yaps about his arrivals which is a good thing and I am on his side, it is fantastic. The first thing, on the arrival side of things, I know it has done nothing to help my Sandals,”
“Minister Ed Bartlett can more tell a smart hotelier how to run his business and the things that are good for him, than the cow that jumped over the moon with all the yapping, the hotels are in trouble,” he said.
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