How Jamaica is changing global conversation on sustainable tourism
(Caribbean Journal) Tourism isn’t just the beating heart of the Caribbean economy — it’s one of the largest economic sectors on earth. And in an age of increasing global challenges, that means the continued sustainability — and resilience — of tourism is paramount.
In an effort to begin to redefine the conversation on these issues, Jamaica put itself at the forefront last month, opening the new Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Center, set at the University of the West Indies in Kingston.
The aim, Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says, is to help educate and inform destinations around the world on how to “rethink” tourism amid increasing global disruptions, from climate change to pandemics to heretofore unforeseen crises — how to study and track new ways to address and recover from them, and how to use information to respond more quickly to them.
But at its heart, “tourism resilience” is about going beyond “sustainable” tourism. It’s not just about sustaining, Bartlett says. It’s about “thriving.”
To learn more, Caribbean Journal talked to Bartlett about the new center and how Jamaica is changing the global conversation on this all-important issue.
Read more at: Caribbean Journal