The first Global Resilience Day will launch at the Dubai Expo on Feb. 17, according to Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s minister of tourism and co-chair of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre.

“Our focus will be on the ability of countries to build capacity to respond to international shocks and to able to predict with greater accuracy their responses,” he said.

Bartlett said that studies show that much of the small and medium-sized enterprises in the travel industry “are not prepared to respond to crises.” The center, he said, “is bringing the need for the industry to focus on preparation, crisis management, recovery and resilience.”

Bartlett called for destinations to build the skills and knowledge to anticipate, prepare, respond, manage and learn from disruptive events to ensure they are ready for the next event.

The expo will showcase the work of the center and hopes to build global partnerships to continue its mission to provide global, regional and national tourism stakeholders.

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