Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett engages World Tourism Leaders at the G20 Working Group Summit in Belem, Brazil September 19-22.
The Minister made two strong presentations on Tourism Resilience and Sustainability as the critical pillars on which the future is predicated!
He emphasized the importance of G20 countries who enjoy 80% of the Tourism Expenditures to supporting the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) which are the most Tourism Dependent countries but are highly vulnerable, and weakly resourced to build capacity for resilience and sustainable recovery and growth after global shocks!
| Antigua and Barbuda | 15. Haiti* | 29. St. Kitts and Nevis |
| 2. Bahamas | 16. Jamaica | 30. St. Lucia |
| 3. Barbados | 17. Kiribati* | 31. St. Vincent and the Grenadines |
| 4. Belize | 18. Maldives | 32. Seychelles |
| 5. Cabo Verde | 19. Marshall Islands | 33. Solomon Islands* |
| 6. Comoros* | 20. Micronesia (Federated States of) | 34. Suriname |
| 7. Cook Islands | 21. Mauritius | 35. Timor-Leste* |
| 8. Cuba | 22. Nauru | 36. Tonga |
| 9. Dominica | 23. Niue | 37. Trinidad and Tobago |
| 10. Dominican Republic | 24. Palau | 38. Tuvalu* |
| 11. Fiji | 25. Papua New Guinea | 39. Vanuatu |
| 12. Grenada | 26. Samoa | |
| 13. Guinea-Bissau* | 27. São Tomé and PrÃncipe* | |
| 14. Guyana | 28. Singapore | |
| * Also Least Developed Country | ||
Minister Bartlett who is the Founder of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre at the University of the West Indies with satellite centers in six countries invited the G20 group to establish centers and support them as key institutions for knowledge building and innovation.
The Minister of Tourism in Brazil who was chair of the G 20 summit has committed to establishing the first centre in South America in his country.
Professor Lloyd Waller the Executive Director of the GTRCMC is leading the global initiative to expand the network of centres worldwide. The Professor who was an integral part of the summit, led the discussions with the Brazillian team.