Jamaica’s minister of tourism will lead a conference on tourism resilience in Kenya from Feb. 16-18, bringing together global tourism stakeholders to address interconnected threats facing the industry.

Hon Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s minister of tourism and founder and co-chair of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, will keynote the conference hosted by the Government of Kenya, Kenyatta University and the GTRCMC – Eastern Africa at Kenyatta University.

The conference will address threats including climate shocks, cyber-attacks, misinformation and system failures, according to the organizers.

“Resilience is the new tourism currency,” said Hon Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s minister of tourism and founder and co-chair of the GTRCMC. “We are here to build it, measure it and institutionalize it, so destinations remain credible under pressure and communities recover faster.”

The conference serves as a capacity-building platform focused on policy, investment, crisis response, technology and workforce readiness.

Professor Lloyd Waller, executive director of the GTRCMC, said the organization has helped shape global understanding by naming resilience as a discipline, developing practical tools and training, convening public-private partnerships and expanding a network of regional centers.

Bartlett outlined three critical principles for the sector’s future: resilience is competitiveness, resilience is systems and resilience is global.

The conference will culminate on Feb. 17 with Global Tourism Resilience Day, featuring Bartlett’s keynote address at 9 a.m. East Africa Time under the theme A Call for Resilience: Many Nations, One Africa – An African Tourism Vision.

“Global tourism’s future must be built on systems of resilience, not hope,” Bartlett said.

The conference will address modern tourism disruptions that are interconnected, fast-moving threats that can shut down demand faster than traditional damage assessments can be completed.