KINGSTON, Jamaica — Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre is scheduled to open by the first week in October, at a newly refurbished $27 million facility on the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus.

 “We have our first conference scheduled for the first week in October of this year, so we would like to bring the board members from all over the world to come and to see the centre functional and operational, whilst we are hosting the event,” Bartlett said.

Speaking yesterday at a site visit of the facility, the minister noted that the overall goal of the centre will be to assess (research/monitor), plan-for, forecast, mitigate, and manage risks related to tourism resilience and crisis management.

This will be achieved through five objectives — Research and Development, Advocacy and Communication, Programme/Project Design and Management, as well as Training and Capacity Building.

It will specifically be tasked with creating, producing and generating toolkits, guidelines and policies to assist with preparatory and recovery efforts of tourism stakeholders affected by climatic, pandemic, cyber-crime and cyber-terrorism related disruptions.

“We are grateful to the University for allowing us the use of the space, and more so to enable us to make it the kind of facility that we can be happy to welcome the world to participate here in great things and other kinds of cerebral activities. This partnership will give Jamaica, the Caribbean and the world a new opportunity to understand global disruptions,” the minister said.

The centre is focusing on four key deliverables that at this time. One is the establishment of an academic journal, which will be a compendium of scholarly publications, on various elements of the five segments of disruptions. The editorial board has been established, headed by Professor Lee Miles of Bournemouth University, with the assistance of George Washington University.

The other deliverables include: a compendium of best practices/ a blueprint for resilience; a resilience barometer to measure the resilience in countries and provide benchmarks to guide countries; and to establish an academic chair at the University of West Indies for innovation and resilience.

Balford Henry