Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism on hand for the signing of a memorandum of understanding for new centre
IAN STALKER
Jamaican tourism minister Edmund Bartlett is applauding the Jamaica-based Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre’s arrival in Canada, stating a growing international presence for the centre will better enable tourism to cope with crises that are certain to follow the coronavirus pandemic, which has been hugely punishing for tourism over the past two years.
Bartlett was in Toronto recently for the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the city’s George Brown College to establish a Satellite Resilience Centre at that institution.
The GTRCMC was established in 2018 by Bartlett and Dr. Taleb Rafai, former secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, as a global think tank that focuses exclusively on building resilience and managing crises that disrupt tourism.
George Brown College is the first Canadian partner of the centre and will focus on research and development, policy advocacy and communication management, program/project design and management, and training and capacity building in various areas.
“Nobody was prepared for it (the pandemic)…,” Bartlett said during the Toronto ceremony. “You need to be prepared.”
Bartlett earlier said that “this is a critical time in history for us to forge global partnerships in order to ensure the resilience of our industry.”
The partnership between the GTRCMC and George Brown College comes as the tourism industry is still recovering from the pandemic and dealing with the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine.
The centre is also focusing on research and anticipating the next “inevitable” crises and tourism disruptors so tourism destinations can better prepare themselves and ensure tourism resilience and ability to recover from these disruptors.
It is promoting itself as truly international, establishing a presence in such countries as Jordan, Kenya and Bulgaria.
Angella Bennett, Canadian director for the Jamaica Tourist Board, used the Toronto ceremony to praise the centre’s Canadian debut.
“We know this will be a centre of excellence,” she said, adding it will lead to exchanges of tourism knowledge between Canada and the Caribbean.
Bartlett in turn thanked Bennett for her involvement, saying if it “wasn’t for Angella, we wouldn’t be here today.”
Meanwhile, the president of George Brown College said that institution is excited about its participation in the project.
“George Brown College offers an innovative approach to career-oriented education programs and applied research initiatives within the Canadian setting,” said Gervan Fearon. “This partnership with the GTRCMC at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica is an exciting opportunity for our college, particularly for our School of Hospitality & Tourism Management and recently established Brookfield Sustainability Institute. This collaboration includes international learning exchange, joint teaching between our institutions, as well as industry-focused student exchange and applied research activities. This partnership provides the opportunity for our students, faculty and staff to contribute to tourism sustainability in a real and tangible way at a global level.”
The Toronto ceremony was also attended by GTRCMC executive director and University of the West Indies professor Lloyd Waller, who cowrote a book with Bartlett on tourism challenges and resilience. Copies of the new book were distributed during the Toronto event.
