Bartlett calls for a sustainability fund to help countries dependent on tourism

KINGSTON, Jamaica – As global tourism and policy stakeholders celebrate the first official World Tourism Sustainability Day, Tourism Minister The Honorable Edmund Bartlett today launched a call for a global tourism sustainability fund to support tourism dependent countries during times of disruption.

The call came as key tourism players from around the world, including the Caribbean and Africa, dedicated a third day to the first ever Global Tourism Sustainability Conference to continue discussions on the theme “The Path to Global Sustainability and Development”.

Minister Bartlett stated that “while we are talking about making tourism more sustainable, we need to focus in a broader perspective on social, economic, political, health and security disruptions.”

However, he stressed that most important of all is building the human capacity to “anticipate, mitigate, manage disruptions when they occur, recover quickly and thrive thereafter.”

He stressed the need to also increase financial sustainability, while emphasizing tourism’s responsibility to enable countries heavily dependent on tourism to “get a sense of their own ability to grow, expand and enjoy prosperity.” To this end, Mr. Bartlett has called for the creation of a dedicated tourism sustainability fund.

Council for Voluntary Sustainability

He said: “We as an industry can keep this fund running smoothly because we are the most consumption-driven activity on planet Earth.”

The minister indicated that one way the fund is funded is through a voluntary sustainability tip provided by 1.4 billion consumer travellers, and “these contributions remain in the recipient countries and build this fund to ensure sustainability capacity.”

Increasing the sustainability of tourism

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) General Manager for the Caribbean, Mr. Tariq Ali, also stressed the importance of improving the sustainability of tourism. He warned that even though tourism is recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: “While we would like to see the economy diversify, a high-performing tourism sector is needed for continued economic growth and recovery.”

He therefore warned that “we must be cautious and optimistic” as there are still several threats that could undermine the gains made so far.