International Tourism Leaders Discuss Resilience Strategies at Conference in Jamaica

by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:20 PM ET, Tue February 25, 2025

Government officials, international tourism leaders and sustainability advocates are fast advancing strategies to confront natural and man-made threats impacting their environments, communities and livelihoods.

Leaders attending last week’s Global Tourism Resilience Conference in Hanover, Jamaica detailed emerging strategies to promote environmental and economic sustainability and resilience among tourism destinations threatened by unforeseen disruptions.

“For developing countries in particular, tourism represents a path to empowerment, job creation, poverty alleviation and the preservation of cultural heritage,” said Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s tourism minister and co-founder and chairman of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Center (GTRCMC), the conference’s host.

“[Tourism] fosters cross-cultural exchange, promotes tolerance, and deepens our shared sense of humanity,” he said. “We must future-proof it.”

“Not only must we be prepared for changes that are beyond our control [including] the climate, but we must also be prepared for changes in policies in the global capitals of the world over which we have no control,” said Andrew Holness, Jamaica’s prime minister, in an address to media during the conference.

“The notion of resilience for us is not just one of the sexy catchphrases that from time to time gets introduced into our vocabulary,” Holness said. “Resilience is an important way of life and mindset. It’s about being able to withstand exogenous shocks, absorb them and recover from them quickly and better than we were before.”

“Events like COVID-19 have shown us the vulnerabilities of our sector and the [need] to strengthen our capacity to anticipate, respond and recover from crisis,” said Natalia Bayona, UN Tourism executive director.

“Resilience to me is not only about recovery. It’s about [strengthening] our sector to withstand future challenges and safeguard [tourism] jobs and businesses.”

Bayona pointed to Jamaica’s government as an example, saying the country has launched a $9.9 million digital transitioning program to foster digital infrastructure development “to promote innovation,” she said.

Said Bayona, “We are working to identify scholars and young people to empower them and give them scholarships from the UN Tourism Scholarship Program so we can bring Jamaicans to study [tourism] in different parts of the world.”

UN Tourism has also established a digital hospitality course that partners with destinations and utilizes WhatsApp, said Bayona. The system has trained 500 taxi drivers in Columbia.

“In November it was a pilot. Now it’s a reality,” Bayona said. “It’s a new service we are offering to member states.” She added UN Tourism is also working with WhatsApp on models to train tourism personnel in emergency response.

AI Application

Bartlett and other attendees targeted the “digital transformation” as integral to building sustainable practices to ensure tourism’s future. Digital tools, said Bartlett can be utilized to “enhance visitor experiences, maintain competitiveness and safeguard environmental and cultural assets.”

“Digital technologies [including] artificial intelligence and emerging mobile applications hold the capacity to radically redefine how we develop, market, and sustain tourism worldwide,” said Dr. Lloyd Waller, GTRCMC’s executive director.

“These innovations promise greater efficiency, personalized services and real-time data analytics, paving the way for smarter destination management and enhanced visitor engagement.”

Said Bayona, “It’s very important that we’re talking about digital transformation, because we need innovation to create better solutions.”

Natalia Bayona UN Tourism executive director

“With generative AI, tourism boards can create compelling, culturally appropriate marketing materials almost instantly,” said David Tepper, Co-founder and CEO at Pay-i Inc. “They can be used to create blog posts and social media content to creating stylized travel videos that highlight underrepresented destinations.”

By utilizing data tracking customer feedback and seasonal preferences, campaigns can be “highly specialized to the users viewing them,” Tepper said, “making them more likely than ever to want to visit by telling them customized stories covering exactly what they want to hear.”

Seamless Connections

Bartlett identified AI as having “given us useful tools to make the travel process seamless. Since its emergence the tourism industry has utilized AI to improve features like customer experience, reduce costs and streamline operations,” he said.

“It has been transforming our industry from the initial spark of deciding where to travel and the pre-planning that goes into visiting the destination, all the way to departure,” Bartlett added.

“Tools like chatbots [that] streamline air and hotel bookings to automation at the airports to optimize baggage handling and reduce delays.”

In recovering from the global pandemic, Greece’s government “used AI tools in a very innovative way, to get more high-risk people tested as opposed to just doing general testing,” said Haris Theoharis, a Greek parliament member and former tourism minister.

“This way we were able to control our borders and convince our doctors that it was safe crossing our borders. We were able to collaborate across ministries and assure we were accepting [visitors] with more assurance.”

Bartlett added that U.S. travel advisors are utilizing AI tools to aid their booking processes, boosting visitor numbers for Caribbean destinations.

“Perhaps one of the most interesting tools it has given us is the AI [-assisted] travel agent that can assist with complex travel requests [by] searching online platforms for recommendations and developing itineraries,” he said.

Yet while consumers are increasingly using AI tools to research travel options, “they're still doing their due diligence of researching on their own through the online travel forums and working with trusted travel advisors,” said Bartlett.

“I want to make that very clear the human element of travel is irreplaceable,” he said. “Only humans can provide insights into particularities like the best time to visit a location for an excursion or who at the hotel mixes the best drinks.”

Said Bartlett, “Authenticity is still an important aspect in travel planning in the travel planning process and we don't see that disappearing anytime soon.”

“When you have events like a global pandemic, we have different approaches and different policy decisions, and different ideologies that drive those decisions,” said Theoharis.

“What is important is we have centers like (GTRCMC), with solutions that can access global issues and through that assessment ensure that we highlight best practices,” he said.

“If we know one thing we know for sure, it’s that new crises will arise, more often and stronger than before with bigger consequences.”

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