Former Prime Minister P J Patterson has called on the Caribbean to offer training and technological support to African countries in helping to rebuild their tourism industry.

Patterson was delivering the keynote address during day two of the Global Tourism Resilience Conference at the Regional Headquarters of The University of the West Indies, Mona, in St Andrew on Thursday.

According to Patterson, the tourism industry has always been seized of the need of continuous training and retraining of the workforce to address the need of travellers. However, he noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has put an even greater pressure on the sector.

“The industry experienced a heavy loss of workers during the extended period of lockdown and travel restrictions. The skill sets needed to push the industry forward require training quickly and intensively,” said Patterson.

“Jamaica and the Caribbean have a strong history of developing institutions to train the workforce in all aspects of tourism. This is an area where we can offer support to our colleagues through technical training in countries in Africa that are currently rebuilding or expanding their tourism industry,” he added.

Patterson, who is the statesman in residence at the P J Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy, said the Jamaican and Caribbean experience and capacity can help in developing an institutional framework for training that could support the growth of tourism on the African continent.

“It can also be of benefit to us in bringing trainees here for exchanges here which will create stronger professional bonds across the Atlantic,” he said.

Noting that the tourism industry’s growth rests on utilising modern technologies in order to rise to higher levels of economic contribution, Patterson said more resilience should be created from external shocks.

“Much of this can be done using virtual training platforms and collaborating with each other to ensure that we share resources and best practices both in person and virtually,” said Patterson.

“I have been involved in South-South endeavours for a long time, I think time come for us to stop talking about it and do something about it,” he added.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness who addressed the opening ceremony of the conference, said exploration of an African-Caribbean tourism trade mechanism is essential in boosting the growth of the sector.

“While the African continent has been increasingly directing its attention towards tourism as a driver of economic development, given its rich cultural heritage, wildlife and natural resources, there are still many barriers that constrain these efforts,” Holness said.

“Consequently, the tourism sector in Africa remains relatively underdeveloped offering significant potential for growth and development,” he added.