MONTEGO BAY, St. James, Jamaica; Thursday, June 18, 2026: Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett has called on members of the Jamaican Diaspora to take decisive steps in support of efforts by the Ministry of Tourism to strengthen the resilience of the tourism sector as it pursues a target of attracting 10 million visitors, earn US10 billion, over the next 10 years.
Minister Bartlett has challenged the influential Jamaican Diaspora to expand their role beyond sending remittances, to becoming stakeholders and investors in the industry by bringing resource and capital support to the country and being part of marketing initiatives to secure more tourists.
Minister Bartlett was the main presenter on a panel at the 11th biennial conference of the Jamaica Diaspora, being held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre this week, exploring the topic “Secure Jamaica’s Future: Building National Climate Tourism and Disaster Resilience.” It was disclosed that this year’s conference registered the highest number of participants from some 16 countries, with many persons having to participate online.
As he invited members of the Jamaican diaspora to deepen their tourism connections through investments and create greater local ownership in the industry, Minister Bartlett also spoke to the need “to create a diaspora climate corp. He said this group will comprise brilliant, knowledgeable, experienced, professional and well-connected persons across the diaspora “who can come back and give us the benefit of your knowledge and your experience in building out the resilience infrastructure of Jamaica.”
“Help finance solar systems, water systems, reef restoration, climate-smart agriculture, community tourism, and resilience upgrades,” he expressed. “Even modest investment, properly pooled and professionally managed, can become ownership. Even one percent of remittance power can build real climate resilience,” Minister Bartlett explained.
However, while the continued high arrivals in tourism reflected national confidence, he noted that climate change was one of the destination’s “fiercest competitors” as a significant share of Jamaica’s tourism assets sits by the sea, giving both beauty and exposure to operating realities, leading to what he termed “a perception risk.” Minister Bartlett explained that: “In tourism, perception can damage a destination faster than a hurricane.” He said perception influences travel and confidence, “and confidence is currency, so, if Jamaica is to protect tourism in the climate era, we must protect not only roads, airports, hotels, and beaches, we must protect trust.”
Close attention must also be given to water, energy, and food security. “So, we have to develop capacity here to do a number of things to create a resilient environment, recognizing the vulnerability of our workers and to bring the workers into the mainstream of resilience building to enable not just the resources to be spread evenly, but also for a more efficient distribution of the resources of our country,” said Minister Bartlett.
He also wanted more from the diaspora. “I want to bring to your attention the enormous capacity that our diaspora has to become the real ambassadors of resilience in the world,” he told them.
“What you have is a repository of knowledge, which is critical to us in building our capacity for resilience in Jamaica, we want to draw on that. You are the power that resides in critical spaces of influence and corridors of power. You interact with the leaders of the world and the financiers of the world. We want you to bring that kind of resource into Jamaica to enable the building of resilience, to enhance our ability to develop and grow and to expand the economy of Jamaica,” declared Minister Bartlett to resounding applause.
