Jamaica’s Tourism Minister wins Challenge Award

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett is among this year’s recipients of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) Champions in Challenge Award.

The presentation took place at the International Travel Crisis Management Summit (ITCMS) in London on Friday.

The awards, sponsored by the New York-based marketing communications firm Finn Partners, “honour industry leaders who have stood forward in exceptional times of challenge and have made a real difference through their words and their actions,” the Ministry of Tourism in Jamaica, said in a statement.

Dr. Taleb Rifai, former secretary general of the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization, who presented the IIPT award, described Bartlett as “a champion in joining forces with global tourism leaders as a means of achieving destination growth and opportunity, especially when facing challenges.”

“He commended the minister’s integral role in establishing the Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre, which will be housed at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus” the statement said.

“I am honoured to receive such an award from the IIPT,” Bartlett said. “I intend to continue my work to launch the Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre in 2019, so that, together, we can carry out vital research and analysis on destination preparedness for crises that impact tourism and travellers visiting destinations all around the world.”

Other recipients of the IIPT Champions in Challenge Awards included the chief executive officers of Nepal Tourist Board, Deepak Joshi, and US Travel Association, Roger Dow, respectively.

Founded by Dr. Louis D’Amore in 1986, the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism is a non-profit organisation, “which works globally to raise awareness of the vital role that tourism can play to foster peace by treating every traveller as a potential Ambassador for Peace,” the Jamaica Ministry of Tourism said.

Additionally, it said the ITCMS will transform into the Resilience Council, a year-round communications platform that will focus on the key areas of preparedness, communications, thought leadership, recovery and resilience.

Bartlett will serve as co-chair, along with Dr. Rifai, on the founding board for the council.