The Jamaican Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett will travel to Grenada this week for meeting key members of the Jamaica-led ‘UNWTO Disaster Recovery Working Group for the Affected States in the Caribbean’ for figuring out a recovery action plan for tourism-dependent islands devastated recently by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Jamaica’s Minister’s New Kingston offices on October 06, 2017 Minister Bartlett said that, “In Grenada we will discuss the best way to assist tourism dependent member states, recently ravaged by natural disasters, at the annual State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC). We will then visit the most severely impacted countries and create a plan of action which we will launch during our upcoming UNWTO global conference in Montego Bay in November.”
At the 22nd Session of the UNWTO General Assembly recently held in Chengdu, China, Jamaica was appointed to coordinate the newly formed ‘UNWTO Disaster Recovery Working Group for the Affected States in the Caribbean’. The working group is a tourism response mechanism for member states that have been recently impacted by powerful natural calamities such as hurricanes, tropical storms and earthquakes.
“The tourism industry remains the most vital source of earnings and economic activity for most Caribbean islands, with region-wide tourism revenues estimated at over US$27 billion in 2016. The sector also expanded by an unprecedented 4.2% in 2016 as the region welcomed a historic 29 million visitors; over 1 million more visitors than in 2015. It therefore goes without saying that when our tourism sector suffers a setback, the Caribbean suffers a setback in a huge way,” Minister Bartlett said.
The minister also announced that he will be seeking relief funds for the affected states in the region, during the Annual General Meeting of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, slated to take place on October 13, 2017 in Washington, D.C., USA.
While in Washington, he will also participate in the World Bank Group’s high-level ministerial closed-door simulation exercise on pandemics and tourism: “Travel, Tourism and Outbreaks – A Pandemic Simulation”.
