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Jamaica successful in bid to chair UNWTO’s Regional Commission for the Americas

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Jamaica was yesterday selected to chair the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Regional Commission for the Americas (CAM) for the biennium 2019-2021.

“Jamaica graciously accepts the position of Chairman for the Regional Commission of the Americas and thanks the members for the confidence which has been demonstrated. This is the first time in our history that anyone in the Caribbean has been appointed Chairman of this commission,” said the Minister.


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The elections for the Chairmanship of CAM were held during the organization’s 64th Meeting in Guatemala.

Since 1975, Jamaica has served as Vice-President of the General Assembly on five occasions over the period 1987 – 2011, and has been re-elected twice as a member of the Executive Council, serving as second Vice-Chair in 2012, 1st Vice Chair in 2013 and eventually serving as Chairman of the Executive Council for the period 2014-2015.

In his acceptance speech, the Minister shared that “Jamaica firmly believes that the tourism sector is one that should always be guided by sound policies and has over the years worked assiduously to ensure that this is achieved at both the domestic and international levels.

Jamaica also underscores it commitment to enhancing the capacity of the Americas to plan for and manage a range of global shocks and disruptions that can be destabilizing to the tourism sector.”

He then invited the participation of member countries in the ‘first of its kind’ Global Resilience and Crisis Management Centre which is based at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.

The Regional Commissions meet once a year to allow Member States to maintain ‎contact with each other and with the UNWTO Secretariat between sessions of the bi-annual General ‎Assembly.

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While in Guatemala, the Minister and his delegation will also participate in the International Seminar on Destination Management, which is taking place under the theme ‘New Challenges, New Solutions.’

The Seminar will discuss current challenges and opportunities facing destination management at national and local levels, including the changing role of Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) and the development of smart destinations.

The Minister is accompanied by Miss Kerry Chambers, Senior Director, Policy and Monitoring who will provide technical support. The team will return to the island on May 18, 2019.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944

UNWTO hopes to work with African Tourism Board

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African Tourism Board (ATB) Vice President Cuthbert Ncube recently joined ATB from the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), where he served as a Regional Vice Chair and Board member.

He told UNWTO in his resignation letter:  “I  have walked with great giants within the UNWTO that has become the harbour  and fountain of wisdom for me. I have learned a lot from the leadership under the previous Secretary General Taleb Rifai’s humility and perseverance as a mile road to lead such a diverse audience.

“The current Secretary General, Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili, who has stepped in the great shoes, his drive and energy and wealth of wisdom to drive this great organization to upper levels, especially embracing the private and public entities. I am humbled and appreciate every step we have walked together as a team.

“To the Board Members I want to salute each and every one of them; this pool of great leaders who each contributed on my journey in placing every brick and mortar that has cemented my individuality in making [me] who I am today.

“I have accepted the call from the African Tourism Board to serve as their Board Member, and, therefore, I felt obligated to communicate to your esteemed and request for your blessings as Kwela Fleet we will  remain as an Affiliate Member of the UNWTO, and my drive will be to continue working with UNWTO and find synergies between UNWTO and the African Tourism Board, as I will always be indebted to this great organization.

“I, therefore, want to express my gratitude and appreciation to the UNWTO  Secretary General, the team, and management.”

UNWTO responded: “We are very pleased to hear that you will be joining the African Tourism Board, and we hope that in your new position we will continue our fruitful relationship and continue to work together for the sustainable development of tourism in Africa.”

Founded in 2018, the African Tourism Board is an association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from, and within the African region. For more information and how to join, visit africantourismboard.com.

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Bartlett to Lobby for Jamaica to Chair the UNWTOs Regional Commission for the Americas

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Jamaica Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, departs the island today, to attend the 64th Meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Regional Commission for the Americas (CAM) in Guatemala City – La Antigua, Guatemala. While there, he is expected to present Jamaica’s candidature for the chairmanship of CAM to the UNWTO for the biennium 2019-2021.

“I am very excited to represent our great nation at the 64th meeting of the CAM. We are very hopeful that our presentation will be well received and that Jamaica will be able to chair the commission,” said the Minister.

The elections for the Chairmanship of CAM will be held at the 64th Meeting of the UNWTO Regional Commission for the Americas, in Guatemala during the period May 15 – 17, 2019.

The Regional Commissions meet once a year to allow Member States to maintain ‎contact with each other and with the UNWTO Secretariat between sessions of the bi-annual General ‎Assembly. 

Minister Bartlett’s presence at the CAM is critical, as Jamaica is one of the four English speaking Caribbean Member States of the UNWTO.  The country also occupies one of the five (5) seats allocated to the CAM on the Executive Council of the UNWTO for the period 2018 – 2021. 

While in Guatemala, the Minister and his delegation will also participate in the International Seminar on Destination Management, which is taking place under the theme ‘New Challenges, New Solutions.’

The Seminar will discuss current challenges and opportunities facing destination management at national and local levels, including the changing role of Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) and the development of smart destinations.

Minister Bartlett will also present the programme areas of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre for the year.

“The Centre, which I am pleased to say will be opening later this year, is focusing on four key deliverables at this time. One is the establishment of an academic journal, which will be a compendium of scholarly publications, on various elements of the five segments of disruptions. The editorial board has been established, headed by Professor Lee Miles of Bournemouth University, with the assistance of George Washington University,” said Minister Bartlett.

The other deliverables include: a compendium of best practices/ a blueprint for resilience; a resilience barometer to measure the resilience in countries and provide benchmarks to guide countries; and to establish an academic chair at the University of West Indies for innovation and resilience.

The Minister is accompanied by Miss Kerry Chambers, Senior Director, Policy and Monitoring who will provide technical support. The team will return to the island on May 18, 2019.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944

eTN becomes a SUNx SDG 17 Partner calling for Climate Sanity in Tourism on Earth Day

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In nature, nothing exists alone is the message for Earth Day 2019. Announcing the public launch of its “SDG17 Partners Program” on Earth Day 2019, Professor Geoffrey Lipman co-founder SUNx, calls and president of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) asks the Travel & Tourism sector to join its “Plan For Our Kids” and take the “Climate Sanity” Pledge.

Professor Lipman, former Executive Director at IATA, President of WTTC and Assistant Secretary-General UNWTO, said:

“I’m confident that Travel & Tourism will play a leadership role in the global shift to a New Climate Economy: we just need a pathway for change and that lies in our faith in the next generation”

SUNx a legacy for Planetary Champion Maurice Strong has created a “Plan For Our Kids”, aiming to recruit 100,000 STRONG Climate Champions to advance its vision of a no Carbon 2050 sector totally compliant with the evolving goals of the Paris Accords.

He added “During the past year we have seen a welcome intensification of the pressures for a new commitment to Climate Sanity, which stops discussing whether climate change is existential and just gets on with solutions. That’s the common message from Greta Thunberg’s Friday’s for Futures and AOC’s Green New Deal: it’s the message from Earth Scientists and Nobel Economists: it’s the plea from Sir David Attenborough.

”Lipman concluded “SDG 17 Partners will share our long-term vision on the fact that Climate Change is eXistential and that we have to act NOW, as if this Earth Day is the first day of the rest of our lives. We all have different starting positions, based on our separate realities: but we have a shared goal of meeting the Paris Agenda and together taking a “No Carbon 2050 moonshot”. We can deliver Climate Friendly Travel ~ measured plans: green growth: 2050 no carbon proof “

Juergen Steinmetz president of the eTN Corporation said “We are proud to become a SUNx SDG 17 Partner and provide preferential support for this great cause. As long as I have known Geoffrey Lipman, he has been drumming home the message that Climate Change is eXistential and that if we don’t fix it now, it will fix us. We are in, and will use all our links, like ICTP and the African Tourism Board to support Climate Friendly Travel. going forward”.

For more on SUNx and its SDG 17 Partnership Program please contact: go to www.thesunprogram.com

What is Earth Day?

The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. Twenty years later, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in more than 190 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage.

On April 22, 1970, millions of people took to the streets to protest the negative impacts of 150 years of industrial development.

In the U.S. and around the world, smog was becoming deadly and evidence was growing that pollution led to developmental delays in children. Biodiversity was in decline as a result of the heavy use of pesticides and other pollutants.

The global ecological awareness was growing, and the US Congress and President Nixon responded quickly. In July of the same year, they created the Environmental Protection Agency, and robust environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, among many.

One billion people

Earth Day is now a global event each year, and more than 1 billion people in 192 countries now take part in what is the largest civic-focused day of action in the world.

It is a day of political action and civic participation. People march, sign petitions, meet with their elected officials, plant trees, clean up their towns and roads. Corporations and governments use it to make pledges and announce sustainability measures. Faith leaders, including Pope Francis, connect Earth Day with protecting God’s greatest creations, humans, biodiversity and the planet that we all live on.

Earth Day Network, the organization that leads Earth Day worldwide, has chosen as the theme for 2018 to End Plastic Pollution, including creating support for a global effort to eliminate primarily single-use plastics along with global regulation for the disposal of plastics.  EDN is educating millions of people about the health and other risks associated with the use and disposal of plastics, including pollution of our oceans, water, and wildlife, and about the growing body of evidence that plastic waste is creating serious global problems.

From poisoning and injuring marine life to the ubiquitous presence of plastics in our food to disrupting human hormones and causing major life-threatening diseases and early puberty, the exponential growth of plastics is threatening our planet’s survival.

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UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism to analyze sector’s potential

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The countdown begins for the 5th World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism to be held on 2 and 3 May in Donostia-San Sebastián, organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Basque Culinary Center (BCC). International experts will analyze and discuss the influence and capacity of gastronomy tourism to create employment and promote entrepreneurship and how to increase its potential in the future. Registration to attend the forum is still open here.

Stimulating employment

The Forum will explore how the most favorable frameworks can be created in order to stimulate job creation and entrepreneurship throughout the gastronomy tourism value chain. In addition, the speakers will try to identify the most relevant skills for this type of tourism, which should foster synergies among emerging companies, promote the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and take full account of digitalization. The event will bring together speakers and experts from all regions of the world, as well as internationally renowned Basque chefs such as Elena Arzak, who is a UNWTO Ambassador for Responsible Tourism and joint head chef of the restaurant Arzak, and Andoni Luis Aduriz.
In addition, the event will host the presentation of the UNWTO/BCC Guidelines for the Development of Gastronomy Tourism.

Sessions and startups

The forum will open with a high-level panel with ministers and secretaries of state from countries that have included gastronomy tourism as part of their strategies, such as Cyprus, Slovenia or Spain, among others. Under the theme, “Public policies as key ingredients to promote gastronomy tourism”, the participants will discuss the necessary political framework for the development of gastronomy tourism as well as its capacity to create jobs and promote entrepreneurship.

In addition to shedding light on the competencies needed to meet the demands of gastronomy tourists, the sessions will encourage the creation of environments that stimulate entrepreneurship, that connect emerging companies and better integrate disadvantaged groups in the labour market. Issues related to local communities or to under-represented groups, such as women, youth and persons with disabilities, will also be discussed. In addition, topics such as the digitalization of the sector will also be analyzed in order to identify the new opportunities they offer to companies. In addition, the latest advances in the creation of the necessary framework to stimulate entrepreneurship will be presented, connecting the different ecosystems with the startups that are part of the value chain of gastronomy tourism.

In this context, the five finalist startups of the First Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition, organized by the UNWTO and the BCC, will present the most innovative projects in line with the UNWTO’s strategy and the contribution of gastronomy tourism to the sustainable development goals.

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