Several of the world’s top business leaders are scheduled to arrive in the island this weekend for the historic three-day Global Tourism Conference in Montego Bay starting tomorrow.

They include Spanish hotel mogul Abel Matutes, owner and director general of the Palladium Hotel Group; the Dominican Republic’s Frank Raineri, founder and president of the Punta Cana Group; Hakuhiko Ishii, director of overseas market development for Japan’s largest airline, All Nippon Airways; Silicon valley business titan Chris Lehane, head of global policy and communications at travel powerhouse AirBnB; Steven Paganelli, senior executive of the world’s largest travel site, TripAdvisor; and Cruise industry tycoons Arnold Donald of Carnival Corporation and Adam Goldstein of Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited.

The Ministry of Tourism said that approximately 1,300 delegates have registered for the event known as the Global Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism being staged by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Government of Jamaica, World Bank Group, and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said that the conference is intended to foster a forum for governments, investors, donors and development organisations to exchange development and investment opportunities; share proven best practices for developing public-private partnerships (PPP) in tourism; and work with governments to prepare innovative tourism PPP investment opportunities that prioritise sustainability, economic inclusion and poverty alleviation.

“The conference will provide an opportunity for us to look at social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction strategies that have been employed with success by the various entities. We need to look at how do we build the policy and the framework, legislative and regulatory arrangements to enable sustainability, and so we want to look at innovative partnerships, best practices and lessons learned from across the globe,” a news release from the ministry quoted Bartlett.

Describing the event as the most significant global tourism conference to be held in the western hemisphere, Bartlett said “this gathering is being held within the context of positioning tourism as a driver of economic development”.

He added that other focus areas include resource efficiencies, environmental protection and climate change; cultural values, diversity and heritage, which are all considerations for sustainable tourism.

The conference is also being attended by a number of global leaders including Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness; Danilo Medina, president of the Dominican Republic; Allen Chastanet, prime minister of St Lucia; Taleb Rifai, secretary general, UNWTO; Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States; Alexandre Meira da Rosa, vice-president for countries, IDB Group; and Cecile Fruman, global director, trade and competitiveness global practice, the World Bank Group.

Senior advisor and strategist at the Ministry of Tourism Delano Seiveright pointed out that the conference has received very strong financial and other support from a range of private sector companies, including AirBNB, Sandals, AM Resorts, The Jamaica National Group, Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited, Chukka Caribbean Adventures, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Red Stripe.

“The Ministry of Tourism, United Nations World Tourism Organization, World Bank Group, Inter-American Development Bank, and World Travel and Tourism Council represent our conference partners, while the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, Chemonics International, and George Washington University are conference collaborators,” Seiveright further noted.