In keeping with the United Nation’s declaration, today (February 17) is being observed as Global Tourism Resilience Day.

The theme for this year is “Harnessing the path to recovery through resilience and investment” and the day is observed to raise awareness of the importance of sustainable tourism, in accordance with local, regional and national priorities.

Due to its geographical location, Jamaica is prone to hurricanes and floods which have severely affected the tourism industry over the years. Since natural disaster are unavoidable, the Ministry of Tourism in 2019 made history when they established the first Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre.

The centre was established after hurricanes Irma and Maria had caused severe damage in countries in the region and was designed to help other countries to recover from natural disasters and keep their tourism sectors alive.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the centre was instrumental to the recovery of Jamaica’s tourism industry and fast-tracked the nation’s recovery process. Having witnessed how quickly the island was able to bounce back from the pandemic, international parties commended Jamaica on their recovery and sought to develop similar recovery processes.

At a visit to the United Nations headquarters on February 6, 2023 Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism for Jamaica put forth a resolution to have tourism resilience day observed globally. The resolution was approved by 94 countries and February 17 is now observed as Global Tourism Resilience Day.

To kick off the celebration, Jamaica hosted a three-day conference from February 15-17 with several international organisations and countries invited to talk about the importance of tourism resilience.

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