Bartlett to head global tourism recovery team

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada: AMID EFFORTS to strategise the recovery of Caribbean tourism, a Global Caribbean Tourism Recovery Team (GCTRT) has been named, with Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett leading the charge.

The group includes representatives of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourist Association, Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), the World Travel and Tourism Council and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

“A secretariat will be established with responsibility for coordinating the technical support, capacity building, communication strategy, multilateral and bilateral agency engagement, as well as the management of public-private partnership arrangements regarding the restoration of the tourism product across the Caribbean,” chairman of the board of directors of the CTO, Joy Jibrilu, told members of the media during the State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC#2017) in Grenada, on Friday.

The secretariat will have its first meeting later this month when the formal strategic framework and governance structure will be developed, said Jibrilu.

Bartlett, during his presentation at the conference on Friday, reiterated statements he made at the recently held Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) in Montego Bay, St James, that 13 of 79 countries in the world with economies that have tourism dependence of 10 per cent or more are in the Caribbean.

SERIOUS MOMENT

“If there are seismic or climatic events which have damaged and ravaged and caused disruption in economic flow, as well as the destruction of property and the loss of human lives, that represents a serious moment for us in the region,” he stated.

Decisions made during the October session are expected to help inform the UNWTO, Government of Jamaica, World Bank Group and Inter-American Development Bank Global Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth, scheduled for November 27 to 29 in Montego Bay.

This article was previously published at www.jamaicagleaner.com.