From Presna Latino

Kingston, Feb 28 (Prensa Latina) Jamaican Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, appreciated today the role of the proposed Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre and Observatory in the regional integration of the Caribbean.

Bartlett lamented, on the other hand, the delay in the transmission of crucial information during the recent tsunami advisories issued for Jamaica and other countries in the area, after a massive magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea, between the coasts of Honduras and the Cayman Islands.

Having an institution like this will change that situation because it will provide instant information and create better conditions to manage, mitigate and recover quickly from these events, the minister said.

The center will be armed with guidelines, toolkits and policies to handle the recovery process in the event of a crisis, facilitating information flow among all stakeholders in the tourism industry within and outside of the region, according to the source.

The Global Center and Observatory, the first of its kind in the world, was approved at a meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) held in Montego Bay last November, with backing from stakeholders including the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Caribbean Hotel, and Tourism Association, and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation.

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IMAGE: Jamaican Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, JIS