UNWTO considers Jamaica to set up Tourism Academy

UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili spoke at the opening ceremony of the second Global Resilience Day Conference in St James, where he lauded Jamaica for its tourism potential.

Pololikashvili, who is also a diplomat and Georgian politician stated “In the Americas, 80 percent of the population don’t speak English, [they] speak Spanish. So there is a need, and there is a big space to have [the] educational centre in English, and there is a huge demand. Where is the better place to do it if it’s not Jamaica?”

Pololikashvili went on to say “For Jamaica, tourism is its DNA. For Jamaicans, tourism is the big part of the economy,”.

Pololikashvili then emphasized the importance and need for investors to build a proposed tourism educational centre.

Pololikashvili stressed on the importance of the involvement of the investors “We need more money here. We need more investments, more foreign direct investments in the region. And there is a field, there is infrastructure, and people are ready. We will have this educational centre in the pilot but we need investments, we need money,”.

Jamaica is a very popular tourist destination with a long-established and functioning tourism sector, the expertise in the region could prove to be of utility for students wishing to enter the industry.

Geographically Jamaica is also positioned in an ideal position, at least amongst the Caribbean nations making it far more easily accessible to and from neighbouring nations and their tourism industry.

The nation also has a respectable and maintained capacity of tourism infrastructure which can be of use for the initiative.

Depending on whether or not the project gets traction, it is within the realm of possibilities that the Jamaican government can invest in this venture.

However, it is important to note that at the moment no official decisions have been made in relation to establishing an academy in Jamaica, and the practical concerns of funding and feasibility are yet to be analyzed before greenlighting the decision to move forward.