Airbnb donates US $250,000 to the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre
/ Our Today
administratorAirbnb, the online marketplace for short-term homestays and experiences has recently donated US$250,000 to the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) located at the University of the West Indies.
The award comes as part of Airbnb’s Community Fund to support sustainability and conservation programs.
The fund, which was first launched in 2020, aims to distribute US$100 million through 2030 to help strengthen communities around the world.
The GTRCMC plans to use the fund to support the Building Climate Knowledge, Attitudes and
Awareness across the Caribbean (Project: C-KAP) led by the Centre, to help raise awareness among
Caribbean Micro, Small and Medium Sized Tourism Entrepreneurs (MSMEs) about the importance
of climate-responsible practices in their operations, as well as encourage them to take urgent action
to combat climate change.
This project aims to assess research/monitor, plan for, forecast, mitigate, and manage risks related to tourism resilience and crisis management.
This will be achieved through four objectives which include research and development; policy advocacy and communication management; programme/project design and management as well as training and capacity building.
The GTRMC’s Board of Governors said: “We are excited to partner with Airbnb whose climate action corporate sustainability framework (which is committed to making Airbnb a Net Zero company by 2030), is in sync with one of the GTRCMC’s mandates; that is, building tourism resilience capacities for climate action and for global sustainability.”
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, vice-chancellor of The UWI is among the Centre’s Board of Governors,
together with Professor Lloyd Waller from The UWI who also serves as executive director and Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism.
The Centre is set to host its inaugural conference, the Global Tourism Resilience Conference from Wednesday (February 15) to Friday (February 17) at the UWI’s Regional Headquarters in Mona, Jamaica.
The conference is a first-of-its-kind, three‐day event, designed to bring the global tourism community together to discuss investment opportunities, discuss and debate solutions to today’s most pressing challenges, and increase cooperation for greater global resilience across the industry.
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