Building A Future Of Tourism Resiliency

Taking the stage during the first ever Global Tourism Resilience Conference in Kingston, Jamaica last month, Jamaica’s minister of tourism Edmund Bartlett highlighted the significance of February 17 being officially declared Global Tourism Resilience Day.

Notably, Bartlett shared that this was the first tourism related designation given by the UN since World Tourism Day was declared in 1980.

“It’s the first time in 42 years that any other day has been designated for tourism,” he said before a round of applause filled the room.

To mark the occasion, the Global Tourism Resilience Conference was purposely staged from Feb. 15-17 in partnership with the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC), an initiative founded by Bartlett with the goal of assisting destination preparedness, management and recovery from disruptions and crises that affect tourism such as natural disasters and global pandemics. There are now satellite campuses around the world in Hong Kong, Kenya, Japan, Malta, Nepal, Oman and Canada.

“I am extremely pleased to have the participation of so many respected professionals as panelists and moderators for this inaugural Global Tourism Resilience Conference,” he said. “It is a testament to the importance of building tourism resilience for the future through sustainable and responsible growth for Jamaica, the Caribbean, Africa and countries across the world so that their respective economies, particularly among nations that are heavily dependent on tourism as a contributor to GDP, can become more impervious to shocks.”

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