It’s a time of great uncertainty for the global travel industry, but Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said he has “every confidence that the tourism industry will get back to full strength at some point.”

Of course, it may look different — “devoid of some of its traditional norms and certainly not with a ‘business as usual approach.;”

“As we continue to fight this crisis together, we are reminded that we have been here before and like we overcame in the past, so shall we again,” Bartlett said this week. 

How quickly that happens, he said, depends on Jamaicans’ own ability to “act selflessly and obey precautionary measures on the one hand, while the state and private sector must work collaboratively to deploy resources and lead initiatives to encourage economic resilience as well as to help those who are suffering the greatest.”

Bartlett said he was of the view that the coronavirus pandemic is “easily the game-changer of this millennium.”

“We have to position ourselves to rebound from this global pandemic, which starts with the rebuilding of confidence,” he said. 

— CJ