A New Day Tourism Resilience Repeats every February 17
The plan was called the Montego Bay Declaration: “We are a small country with a loud voice”, said a proud Hon. Edmund Bartlett today at the World Expo in Dubai. The minister of tourism for this Caribbean Island Nation...
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The plan was called the Montego Bay Declaration: “We are a small country with a loud voice”, said a proud Hon. Edmund Bartlett today at the World Expo in Dubai. The minister of tourism for this Caribbean Island Nation depends on the mightly tourism dollar, euro our pound for the economy of his beautiful country.
On Jamaica day at the World Expo in Dubai, Jamaica brought the global world of travel and tourism together when launching the Global Tourism Resilience Day to be observed on February 17 every year from now on.
Minister Bartlett is the brain behind the Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC). The center is under the leadership of Professor Lloyd Waller, who was also the master of the ceremony at today’s launch in Dubai.
Jamaica Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness addressed the international audience by video hook up.
“The increased demand for a more sustainable brand of tourism presents an opportunity to prioritize the responsible use of natural resources, the preservation of the assets of the host countries and the strengthening of local involvement and participation in the tourism value chain.”
In this regard, Mr. Holness said the convening of a conference at the expo focusing on tourism resilience “is, perhaps, now more fitting than at any other point in the history of the tourism industry”.
The GTRCMC has plans for a total of 11 crisis centers in the world, with a further eight to be unveiled in the coming months. In Africa alone Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana, and South Africa are future sites.
Canada has signed a memorandum of understanding to open a center at George Brown College. Bulgaria, Sevilla in Spain, Barbados, Bahamas, and Guatemala have been on the horizon.
Kenya’s secretary of tourism Najib Balala has already a center in his country and delivered a greeting by Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta pointing out the importance of climate change and sustainability in tourism.
The Chairman of the Resilience Center initiative is no other than former UNWTO Secretary-General Dr Taleb Rifai. He traveled to Dubai to address the event and said:
“We need to collaborate more now than ever before. Governments are doing their own thing. It is up to us to drive change through collaboration. The beautiful fact here is that this endeavor brings together youth with the travel sector and engages them.
“This is critical to driving innovation across the sector and across the world. Hopefully, these initiatives will also endear youth to the sector and help bring back the global workforce.
“This recipe of partnering with universities to establish new centers ensures that the research is done and analysis that follows will be infused with the region’s culture in its work product. This is extremely important when we get to the policy influencing stage.
“Today I am thrilled to be present at the signing of these new Centres.”
Tourism Resilience Day has been acknowledged by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), UNWTO, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA), the World Tourism Network, and other industry-leading bodies.
The Global Tourism Resilience Day has been acknowledged by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), UNWTO, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA), and other industry-leading bodies.
From left to right: International Tourism Investment Corporation director, Gerald Lawless, joins Kenya minister of tourism, Najib Balala, GTRCMC co-founder, Taleb Rifai, Jamaica minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, and Lloyd Waller, executive director of the GTRCMC, in Dubai
He urged industry stakeholders to leverage World Tourism Resilience Day “to make that statement that the world will now have a chance to predict, mitigate, manage, recover, and recover quickly and then thrive after disruptions”.
The same words had been used in the Jamaica Delegation by the Center finalized at a UNWTO Conference in Jamaica, 2 months before the end of Dr. Rifai’s term as UNWTO Secretary-General
– Travel News | eTurboNews | eTN
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