Jamaica minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has handed over US$50,000 to the director general of the Bahamas tourism and aviation ministry, Joy Jibrilu, at the second Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre board meeting in London.

The money forms part of the overall relief fund established by the GTRCM to support tourism-ravaged economies impacted by disruptions such as natural disasters and pandemics.

Hurricane Dorian, a category five storm, hit the Bahamas last month as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall.

The storm caused widespread flooding and destruction.

“This donation symbolises the centre’s commitment to assisting tourism dependent states that are vulnerable to disruptions to recover and rebound.

“Two islands of the Bahamas suffered much damage from the passage of hurricane Dorian and still needs support to rebuild and this contribution will go towards that,” said Bartlett.

In collaboration with the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association, the GTRCM is providing US$100,000 in support of the tourism ravaged economies of the Bahamas and other areas in the Caribbean that may be impacted in the future.

The JHTA has contributed US$20,000 to assist in relief efforts through the United Nations World Tourism Organisation and the GTRCM.

Jibrilu said: “On behalf of the ministry of tourism and aviation and government of the Bahamas, I am pleased to accept this contribution which will help with our recovery and rebuilding efforts.

“This show of support is deeply appreciated and shows the importance of collaboration on issues of disaster and crisis management.”

The fund will also go towards the commissioning of a baseline study to assess the vulnerabilities of the Caribbean to major disruptions such as hurricanes, pandemics and epidemics and building capacity to deal with them.

“Global trends show that given the dynamic and devastating nature of these disruptions, building resilience to predict, manage and recover from these disruptions has become even more critical and that is what the GTRCM has been established to do,” added Bartlett.