Secretary General addressed second Global Tourism Resilience Conference last Saturday

United Nations (UN) Tourism just ended its visit to Jamaica on the weekend and focused on building a more resilient sector.

With the latest UN Tourism data showing international arrivals returning to 87 per cent of pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2023, emphasis has now shifted to protecting the sector from future shocks. The official visit of the delegation led by Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili coincided with the second Global Tourism Resilience Conference last Saturday, February 17, in Montego Bay.

A series of high-level meetings in Jamaica also advanced shared efforts around ethical, inclusive, and sustainable tourism as well as the priorities of education and investment. 

Pololikashvili joined Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett and leaders from the public and private sectors for a special one-day conference.

Getting ready to deal with shocks and emergencies

Addressing the opening of the conference, Pololikashvili said: “Resilience takes many forms. Every level of tourism must be ready to deal with shocks and emergencies and able to adapt to whatever challenge comes our way. For many developing countries, including the least developed countries, small island developing states, countries in Africa, and middle-income countries – we cannot allow the lifeline of tourism to be cut for too long.”

Prime Minister Andrew Holness also met with Pololikashvili to discuss shared priorities for growing tourism in size and impact across both Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region. 

The special one-day conference on the theme, UN Tourism advanced work for greater resilience through:

Investments – As part of an ongoing collaboration with the Development Bank of Latina American and the Caribbean (CAF), UN Tourism will add to its collection of “Tourism Doing Business” investment guidelines with an edition focused on Jamaica. The guidelines will identify opportunities for investors in the country’s tourism sector, with a focus on sustainable and resilient infrastructure.

Education – In Montego Bay, the UN Tourism delegation advanced plans to work with Jamaica’s Centre for Resilience on several new, targeted education programmes. UN Tourism will also work with the Ministry of Tourism to explore plans to establish a Tourism Academy in collaboration with UN Tourism. The academy would serve the wider Caribbean region.