Jamaica keen to help restore global tourism
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said that Jamaica will play a key role in restoring global tourism when the Covid-19 pandemic ends
He said the country is working on recovery efforts locally, as well as reaching out to assist its counterparts in the Caribbean region and beyond. “Jamaica is not just talking about itself … Jamaica is not just talking about how we build back our product … Jamaica also has an international role that we are playing in helping to build back global tourism,” he stated.
Bartlett said that part of this effort will come from the country’s Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Center in Kingston, which is already working to ‘provide global responses’.
For example, Jamaica is in the process of working with the African Tourism Board on an ‘Africa Hope for Tourism’, which is a continent-wide response, and the Resilience Centre is working ‘to formulate the strategic approaches for that’.
In addition, Bartlett chairs the newly established Covid-19 Tourism Recovery Task Force, which was established to provide a recovery and growth stimulation framework for Jamaica’s tourism sector.
Jamaica has the right idea, hopefully coming together will afford countries the best chance of restoring their tourism capabilities and flourishing again.