Major Declaration Held at the Historic Global Tourism Resilience Conference

The historic Global Tourism Resilience Conference was held in Kingston, Jamaica from February 15-17th, 2023.

It concluded with a major declaration acknowledging the importance of building tourist resilience to ensure the industry's sustainability.

This declaration recommends, among other things the creation of a global fund for tourism resilience to assist tourism-dependent countries during periods of disruption. Hon. Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, Hon.

As host minister, Mr. Bartlett outlined the "Kingston Declaration for Tourism Resilience & the Future of Tourism", and listed three recommendations from the Kingston Declaration.

"1. To reignite global South - South relations using tourism as the driver beginning with Africa and the Caribbean and thereby promote mutual understanding, cultural exchange and sustainable economic growth in the tourism sector.

2. To establish a global tourism resilience fund that will provide support to individual destinations in responding to their own crises and disasters. Each country will manage their own Tourism Resilience Fund and employ the fund to enforce its tourism resilience, thus guaranteeing the sustainability of international travel and tourism.

3. To urge labour markets to reignite recovery that does not leave the tourism workers behind."

The declaration stated that the COVID-19 Pandemic would serve as a stark reminder of "the indispensable necessity to build tourist resilience" and that, despite being a resilient sector of the global economy simultaneously, the industry would still be vulnerable to various external and internal shocks.

The Minister also noted that he had been involved in tourism resilience promotion in the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East. However, the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre's (GTRCMC), "revealed the urgent need to consolidate lessons and build resilient strategies which will enable us prepare for the next major disruptions in the travel and tourism industry."

These recommendations were based on the conference participants' discussions and recognition of the difficulties facing the tourism industry as well as the importance of building resilience.

Minister Bartlett, along with others, hailed the conference as very successful. It was revealed that the conference in 2024 would be held at Malaga, Spain. This announcement was made after the signing of a communique between the ministry of tourism of Jamaica.

Minister Bartlett described the signing of the document, which covers various aspects of tourism development as "a momentous opportunity for us here in Jamaica" since it was the first time such an agreement has been formalized.

Source: breakingtravelnews.com