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African Ministers Endorse UNWTO Global Conference in Jamaica

Release Date: 
Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - 13:00

KINGSTON, Jamaica; April 24, 2017: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, has announced that the ‘UNWTO, Government of Jamaica and World Bank Group Conference on Jobs & Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism’ being held in November in Montego Bay, Jamaica, has received full endorsements from over 21 African Ministers from the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Commission for Africa.

“My visit to Africa has been a resounding success in terms of the approaches we have made to the African Ministers through their Commission and the responses they have given us in regards to the conference.  We are very pleased to have the endorsement of 21 Ministers and we were assured that another 15 or so will also participate,” says Minister Bartlett.

The announcement was made at the 59th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Africa in Addis Abba, Ethiopia, on April 20, 2017.

Minister Bartlett has also been using these engagements in Africa to discuss the possible partnerships for sustainable tourism for development with potential investors, donor agencies, the academic community and other tourism stakeholders, who will be targeted to attend the upcoming global conference.

The Minister is currently in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, attending the 42nd Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for the Middle East and the UNWTO and Arabian Travel Market Ministerial Forum on Tourism’s contribution to sustainable and inclusive economic growth and diversification in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Two of the expected deliverables from the UNWTO, Government of Jamaica and World Bank Group Conference on Jobs & Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism will be an Outcome Declaration and the publication of the second UNWTO Affiliate Members Global Report on Public-Private-Partnerships. The UNWTO will also present a report to the UN General Assembly in 2018, with regards to the activities of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, of which the conference will play a major role.

Minister Bartlett is slated to return to Jamaica on April 29, 2017.