ST JAMES, Jamaica— Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett joins leaders from around the world for the annual meeting of the Global Futures Councils (GFC) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from October 16 to 18.

The GFC is a platform of the World Economic Forum and the event will entail high-level discussions.

Through the GFC the world’s collective focus is being channelled into tackling today’s immediate crises while recognising that “quick fixes will not provide sustainable solutions, but rather risk further embedding divisions, resulting in short-lived outcomes.”

Critical issues such as food and energy security as well as the cost of living and taming inflation have been underlined as being in need of resolution with the GFC maintaining that “cooperative and forward-thinking governance approaches need to be developed to harness the potential and mitigate the risks of fast-evolving technologies like artificial intelligence.”

As the world’s premier multi-stakeholder insight network, GFC is designed to identify and disseminate transformative ideas with the potential for global impact and brings together over 500 of the most relevant and knowledgeable thought leaders from academia, business, government and civil society worldwide grouped into 29 expertise-based thematic councils.

“This body of people representing various cultures come together to focus on the broad perspective of a global agenda, not limiting themselves to individualistic positions, as in the context of a global village, the issues facing one ought to be the problem of all. At no time is this more evident than now with climate change, wars, health crises and other global concerns threatening all, either directly or indirectly,” says Minister Bartlett.

Among key agenda items is a forum on Tourism and Conservation which, according to the GFC, “the two are allies yet questions remain about whether they hinder or help conservation efforts.”

They note that wildlife, or nature tourism which Jamaica embraces given its fair share of outdoor attractions such as mountain hikes and bird watching, is projected to be a US$300 billion global business by 2032 as the desire for travellers to get closer to nature grows.

Other important agenda items include investigating possible barriers to a net-zero nature-positive transition for the travel and tourism sector against the background of the 2022 Global Travel Trends Report stating that “78 per cent of respondents desired to make positive impacts on the communities they visited.”

Also, under the broad heading of: “Empowering Sustainable Travel and Tourism: Strategies for Inclusive Transformation,” the GFC participants will look at how policy-makers and business can work together with cities to develop sustainable and affordable urban destinations and tourism infrastructures that are attractive to all consumers,” Minister Bartlett underscored.