Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett is in Dubai with global leaders, government ministers and other leading stakeholders for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2023 (COP28), discussing how to limit and prepare for climate change.

The Tourism Ministry, in a release on Friday, said that during his trip, Bartlett will be presenting the inaugural Global Tourism Resilience Awards.

Five awards will be bestowed on five organisations which have demonstrated global leadership, pioneering vision and innovation to overcome critical challenges and adversity. The inaugural winners will act as benchmarks of tourism resilience best practice.

The honours will be presented by Bartlett as part of the 30th annual World Travel Awards, taking place at the iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah with a VIP audience of global travel leaders in attendance.

The Global Tourism Resilience Awards fall under the stewardship of The Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) – an international think-tank headquartered in Jamaica, with satellites in Africa, Canada, and the Middle East.

Founded by Bartlett in 2018, the GTRCMC aims to help tourism stakeholders worldwide prepare for, manage and recover from a crisis, the ministry stated.

“This is accomplished through providing services such as training, crisis communications, policy advice, project management, event planning, monitoring, evaluation, research and data analytics,” the release said.

The focus of the GTRCMC includes climate resilience, security and cybersecurity resilience, digital transformation and resilience, entrepreneurial resilience and pandemic resilience.