By Dana Niland
CJ Contributor

Jamaica will host a tourism resilience and crisis management center to deal with climate-related issues, according to Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett.

The center, which will be located at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, will serve the Caribbean, providing information, expertise, technical advice and guidance.

“It will also observe actions and activities of these global disruptive elements, so that we can be in a position to mitigate, manage, and recover very quickly after these disasters happen,” Bartlett said.

The announcement came at a ceremony at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St. Andrew on February 24, where he received his award as Caribbean Journal’s 2017 Caribbean Tourism Minister of the Year.

Bartlett pointed out that the center is a product of the World Tourism Conference, which took place last November.

He also noted that the project has the support of the World Bank, United Nations World Tourism Organization, the World Travel and Tourism Council and the Inter-American Development Bank.

“This is going to be a game changer for us, and I am satisfied that by the end of the year, we will be able to break ground for that great global facility,” he said.

In his speech following his reception of the award, Bartlett thanked Caribbean Journal for its role as a “repository of knowledge and information about tourism in the region.”

“We are excited how you have been able to transmit the good stories about Jamaica, and you have made the world recognize the Caribbean,” he said.