GTRCMC to host third Lecture Series Sept. 9

The Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) will host its third Edmund Bartlett Lecture Series tomorrow (September 9), beginning at 9:00 a.m., under the theme ‘Geopolitics and the Coronavirus: Implications for Global Travel and Tourism’.

The event will be held virtually and is open to everyone, particularly tourism stakeholders, both locally and internationally.

It will examine the geopolitical challenges facing tourism stakeholders as they navigate the impact of the coronavirus on the industry.

Executive Director of the GTRCMC, Professor Lloyd Waller, told JIS News that key areas of discussion will include specific geopolitical issues and risks by regions within the context of COVID-19; and approaches to manage and recover from the associated risks and current geopolitical developments that are likely to impact and reshape tourism.

“Travel and tourism across the world have been presented with an unparalleled challenge, and the impact of the pandemic will be felt in destinations for years to come. This compelling lecture series brings together some of the best travel industry minds from across the globe and has been designed to provide insight and strategic tools to help destinations recover from the impact of COVID-19 and prepare for success in a world which will have been irrevocably changed,” Professor Waller said.

Speakers will include Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Sir Hillary Beckles; Executive Director, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Manuel Butler Halter; Former Secretary General of the UNWTO, Dr. Taleb Rafi; Professor Lee Miles, Professor of Crisis and Disaster Management, Bournemouth University, and Professor James B. Kungu, Director, Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre, Eastern Africa Office, Kenyatta University.

Persons interested in being a part of the lecture series are being asked to register at http://www.gtrcmc.org/ or watch the live stream on the Centre’s website, Instagram or Facebook pages.

The GTRCMC, which is based at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, is a global tourism resource centre dedicated to conducting resilience-related policy-relevant research and analysis, programme management and monitoring on destination preparedness, management and recovery due to disruptions and crises that impact tourism and threaten economies and livelihoods worldwide.