Tourism Minister to Garner Support for Global Disaster Resilience Centre in South America

KINGSTON, Jamaica; April 11, 2018: Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett leaves the island today to attend a series of meetings in South America. While there, he is expected to make a presentation on the Global Disaster Resilience Centre that is to be established in Jamaica, as well as garner more support for Small and Medium Sized Tourism Enterprises.

The centre, which was first announced at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) global conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism held in Montego Bay last November, will be located at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.

It is being designed to help vulnerable states to recover quickly from natural disasters and is currently endorsed by World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation.

While in South America, the Minister will visit Paraguay to attend the 63rd Meeting of the UNWTO Regional Commission for the Americas. This is the first meeting since Jamaica was elected to serve on the Executive Council and will also be the first time that the new Secretary General of the UNWTO, Zurab Pololikashvili, participates in a Commission of the Americas meeting.

He will then attend the 8th G20/T20 Tourism Ministers Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 15. The meeting will be held under the theme “Tourism as Protagonist of Sustainable Growth: An Engine for Employment” and aims to highlight significant contributions that the tourism sector makes towards the growth and development of the global economy.

While in Argentina, he will also participate in a panel discussion on Recovery and Resilience in Crisis Management for Tourism during the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 18th Global Summit, which is scheduled to take place on April 18, and 19, 2018.  

The Minister will be accompanied by Permanent Secretary, Jennifer Griffith at the Commission of the Americas meeting and will later be joined by his Senior Advisor/Consultant Dr. Lloyd Waller, at the G20/T20 meetings. He is expected to return to the island on April 26, 2018.