The Hon Edmund Bartlett, Founder & Co-Chair, Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) has signed a letter of intent with Bournemouth University’s Richard Gordon MBE, Head of the Department of Disaster & Crisis Management and Professor Lee Miles.

The two centres will share academic and practical projects development and implementation, as well as data sharing and analytics, focussing on safeguarding tourism in Africa and the Caribbean. They also aim to foster public private partnerships in tourism resilience.

Co-founded in 2018 by Bartlett and former secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Taleb Rifai, the GTRCMC, headquartered in Jamaica, was established to address disruptions and crises in tourism. The centre is based at the University of the West Indies, and is the first academic resource centre dedicated to addressing crises and resilience for the travel industry in the Caribbean.

The body assists destinations in preparedness, management, and recovery from disruptions and/or crises that impact tourism and threaten economies and livelihoods globally.

Since its inception, several Satellite Centres have been launched in Kenya, Canada, Jordan and Bulgaria. Others are in the process of inscription in Costa Rica, Nigeria, Spain, Greece and Ghana.

Speaking at the signing, Minister of Tourism, and Co-chair of the GTRCMC, Hon Edmund Bartlett said, “This new partnership will allow for the exchange of knowledge, practical projects development and implementation as well as data sharing and analytics. The partnership will also foster public private partnerships in tourism resilience,” said Minister Bartlett.

Bournemouth ranked 42 globally in THE impact Rankings 2022, has a strong professional orientation with a focus on academic excellence and graduate employability. It is particularly renowned for its media courses and is recognized as the only Centre for Excellence in Media Practice in the United Kingdom.

“Bringing Bournemouth and the Global Tourism Resilience Centre together through this partnership will help with resilience building and crisis management that will benefit countries globally,” said Professor Lee Miles, Professor of Crisis and Disaster Management at Bournemouth University. 

Executive Director of the GTRCMC, Professor Lloyd Waller in welcoming the partnership said, “As the GTRCMC expands its reach globally, this partnership is timely as we continue research and projects geared towards resilience building.”