by Brian Major
Last updated: 3:35 PM ET, Tue November 5, 2019
The Jamaica-based Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCM) on Monday donated $50,000 for hurricane relief to the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation at GTRCM's board of governors meeting in London.
The donation was drawn from GTRCM's relief fund supporting "tourism-ravaged economies" impacted by disruptions including natural disasters and pandemics, said GTRCM officials. Category 5 Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas last month causing widespread flooding and destruction in the territory's Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama Island districts.
GTRCM is also providing $100,000 in support of "the tourism ravaged economies of the Bahamas and other areas in the Caribbean that may be impacted in the future" in collaboration with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA).
"This donation symbolizes the Centre's commitment to assisting tourism-dependent states that are vulnerable to disruptions to recover and rebound," said Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica's tourism minister and GTRCM's co-chairman.
"On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation and government of the Bahamas, I am pleased to accept this contribution which will help with our recovery and rebuilding efforts," said Joy Jibrilu, the ministry of tourism's director-general.
"This show of support is deeply appreciated and shows the importance of collaboration on issues of disaster and crisis management," she added.
"Global trends show that given the dynamic and devastating nature of these disruptions, building resilience to predict, manage and recover from these disruptions has become even more critical and that is what the GTRCM has been established to do," added Minister Bartlett.
Created last year and based at Kingston, Jamaica's Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, GTRCM is a tourism resource dedicated to "policy-relevant research and analysis on destination preparedness, management and recovery.
GTRCM is presently focused on four specific areas, said Bartlett: climate change and disaster management, security and cybersecurity, entrepreneurial management and data analytics and pandemic and epidemic management.
GTRCM is supported through a partnership that includes the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the Pacific Asia Travel Association, Travel Corporation, the Jamaica National Group, Mediterranean Tourism from Malta, Pacific Tourism Authority in Bangkok, the Tourism International Conference of Mauritius, the Crisis Management and Resilience Council in London and Global Rescue.
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