Hurricanes Irma and Maria inflicted unprecedented death and destruction on several Caribbean destinations in 2017. With global climate change and the Caribbean’s geographic position ensuring deadly storms will again strike the region, tourism leaders are working to develop methods to ameliorate the hurricanes’ destructive impact.

At the forefront of the effort is Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s tourism minister, who in June announced the launch of the Global Centre for Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management.

Based at The University of the West Indies’ Mona Campus in Kingston, Jamaica, the Centre will address the impact of threats including the impact of hurricanes on tourism and the livelihoods of millions of Caribbean residents. The Centre will help to implement “policy-relevant research and analysis on destination preparedness, management and recovery from disruptions or crises that impact tourism,” Bartlett said.

The Centre is expected to launch operations in September, with an official opening scheduled for January 2019, during the Caribbean Travel Marketplace conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

“To guard Jamaica and our partners throughout the Caribbean from extreme weather events, natural disasters and political turmoil, the Global Centre for Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management will ensure that we can continue to benefit from the economic, social, cultural, and historic value that tourism has to offer,” Bartlett said.

He cited a 2017 report from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) which reports that while tourism remains strong globally, “travellers are increasingly concerned about safety in the face of unrest and terror conflicts, public health crises, climate change and natural disasters, and cybercrime and cyber-security.”

Responding to these issues, the Centre will “[convene] domestic and international policymakers and practitioners at all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and academia [to] develop innovative, research-based strategies to address and confront current and future threats,” Bartlett said in a statement.

The Centre will include a Sustainable Tourism Observatory to “assist with preparedness, management and recovery from disruptions.” Mirroring the efforts of the European Union Tourism Observatory, Jamaica Centre’s observatory will help “policymakers and businesses develop better strategies to support a more competitive global tourism sector.

“Our goal is to build the capacity to anticipate what will happen by tracking disruptions to withstand them, managing the process when they arrive, and recovering not just in real time, but in nano time, so as to ensure the stability of our region,” said Bartlett.

Bartlett appointed Dr. Lloyd Waller, head of the Department of Government at UWI, to oversee the Centre’s establishment. The Centre will be governed by a board of directors and an advisory committee staffed by “corporate thought leaders, academics and policy experts," and will also establish a corporate membership program to support the Centre’s research, advocacy and resilience programs.