KINGSTON, Jamaica; April 13, 2017: In an effort to increase international promotion of the upcoming UNWTO, Government of Jamaica and World Bank Group Conference on Jobs & Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett will travel to Ethiopia, Dubai and Thailand to share the importance of the event and garner potential investors.

While in Thailand, Minister Bartlett will participate in a press conference, scheduled for April 26, 2017, which will be jointly hosted by Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and a representative from the World Bank Group.

The news briefing will highlight sustainable tourism as a catalyst for national development on an international platform, where key media houses and stakeholders will be present. In addition to discourse on partnerships for sustainable tourism for development, potential investors, donor agencies, the academic community and other tourism stakeholders will be targeted to attend the upcoming global conference, scheduled for November 27–29, 2017, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.
Minister Bartlett has also been invited to speak at one of the Summit Sessions on April 27 at the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 17th Global Summit in Bangkok. The topic of his presentation will be ‘Protecting people and places – can tourism be too much of a good thing?’ He will then meet with Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and the Chairman of the Thai Tourist Promotion Board.
Prior to travelling to Thailand, the Minister who is also the chairman of the UNWTO’s executive council for affiliates, will attend a series of UNWTO meetings and engagements.

He will first travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on April 18 to attend the 59th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Africa and High-level Meeting on Chinese Outbound Tourism to Africa. He will then travel to United Arab Emirates, Dubai, to attend the 42nd Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for the Middle East and the UNWTO and Arabian Travel Market Ministerial Forum on Tourism’s contribution to sustainable and inclusive economic growth and diversification in the MENA region on April 24.

Two of the expected deliverables from the UNWTO, Government of Jamaica and World Bank Group Conference on Jobs & Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism will be an Outcome Declaration and the publication of the second UNWTO Affiliate Members Global Report on Public-Private-Partnerships. The UNWTO will also present a report to the UN General Assembly in 2018, with regards to the activities of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, of which the conference will play a major role.

The initiative has received the full backing of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and by extension our sister nations within the region. This is of great historical importance because it signals the first time that the UNWTO and its affiliate members will stage a world conference on tourism in the Caribbean or the Americas.

Minister Bartlett is slated to return to Jamaica on April 29, 2017.