Photo: UNWTO.

By Frank Martin

Challenges, which are many, of the global recovery of tourism raised a call to analyze the issue by the United Nations Organization and its relevant agencies, which has already been addressed by the entity.

Jamaica called for the “full debate” focus on building resilience through funding for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) highly dependent on tourism with few resources.

The proposal was supported by those nations, especially the Caribbean ones, for which the tourism industry is vital and the obstacles are usually bigs.

Within such an agenda is the issue of supply chain disruptions in terms of goods and services, as well as human capital, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which analysts say makes an unfavorable equitable recovery more complex for economically weaker destinations.

Jamaica’s proposal laid out by its Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett this month has a central claim under current conditions: “Leave no one behind through inclusive tourism.” “Putting sustainable and resilient tourism at the center of an inclusive recovery” is the central concept.

It was officially announced that the debate has been organized in collaboration with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The policies and strategies that are defended are aimed at promoting tourism as a driver of national growth.

To this end, it presents the need to strengthen the links between tourism and other sectors, such as agriculture, manufacturing and entertainment.

Specialists point out that an element that can be crucial is the achievement of a committed association between the public and private sectors.

“People must be considered and consulted. People must be included and involved. People must be at the center of policies, programs and practices, because people are and will always be the foundation and heartbeat of our societies, structures, systems and sectors”, estimated Bartlett in his speech on the matter last May 4 at the UN.

It is necessary to develop short, medium and long-term strategies to boost the resilience of tourism and increase its sustainability in times of crisis and beyond, he added.