More Than 300 Registered Participants for Global Tourism Resilience Conference

More than 300 persons have registered for the Global Tourism Resilience Conference, set to take place from February 17 to 19 at the Princess Grand Hotel in Hanover.

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, in an interview with JIS News on February 12, informed that registered participants include persons from Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, United States and Canada.

He pointed out that several government ministers and world leaders in tourism will participate in the third staging of the conference.

“The focus is going to be on the impact of digitisation on the future of tourism, and the theme around Global Tourism Resilience Day (February 17) will focus on capacity-building of particularly small and medium states, which are highly tourism-dependent, highly vulnerable, but weakly resourced,” said Minister Bartlett.

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, will deliver the keynote address during the opening ceremony, which will be held on Day 1 of the conference, beginning at 8:00 a.m.

Minister Bartlett also indicated that the leading tourism ministers of the region and other countries, along with digital technology experts, private-sector leaders, academicians and students will be among those participating in the various panel discussions that will take place throughout the conference.

“The conference is going to provide a huge platform for new ideas and innovation and also for examining new products that are going to be critical to the value-added requirements of future tourism,” said Mr. Bartlett.

He pointed out that Jamaica has positioned itself as a thought leader in tourism resilience and sustainable economic growth.

“We have also established our credentials as a leading country for human capital development in tourism and have also established critical landmarks for labour market stability and enhancement,” the Minister said.

“Our world-leading Tourism Workers Pension Plan is a model, our certification and training programme through the Jamaica Centre for Tourism Innovation, which has certified over 25,000 workers in the last five years and establish certification for high-school graduates in hotel management and customer service, are two outstanding contributions that we have made,” he added.

The Minister also indicated that establishment of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) is, possibly, Jamaica’s signature contribution to the global discourse.

The GTRCMC now has six satellite centres in every continent, except Oceania.