Tourism leaders in Nairobi seek a response to new crises: Jamaica pushes the Global Tourism Resilience Fund idea again
At an international gathering in Nairobi, where representatives of the tourism industry, governments, and international partners from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the Americas gathered from February 16 to 18, 2026, the center of the discussion was occupied by topics that have become crucial for the survival of destinations in recent years: the ability to recover quickly after shocks, the protection of digital infrastructure, and resilience to misinformation that can crash demand overnight.
The conference and accompanying Expo were held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), with the host's message that the discussion must move from declarations of principle to concrete instruments – from public policies and investments to standards for crisis management. Ahead of the opening of the meeting, Kenyan media reported that representatives of institutions responsible for natural heritage and wildlife protection would also be included in the program, which further emphasized the link between tourism, the environment, and security. The organizers positioned the conference as a place where policy makers, investors, and industry operators meet in the same space, because decisions on resilience are most often decided exactly at the intersection of strategy and implementation. For countries that rely on visitor income, the message was clear: crises cannot be avoided, but their impact can be mitigated if a plan and financial leverage exist. That is why this time too, the center of the discussion was how to secure funds and procedures in advance, rather than seeking solutions only when the damage occurs.
Fourth edition of the conference and Expo, alongside the UN Tourism Resilience Day
This year, Nairobi is hosting the 4th Global Tourism Resilience Day Conference & Expo (GTRDCE), a global forum that, according to the announcement by the Kenyan Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, brings together governments, international organizations, the private sector, academia, and development partners with the aim of strengthening resilience, sustainability, and crisis preparedness in tourism.
The gathering was organized in partnership with the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC), an international think-tank linked to Jamaica's initiative and a network of regional centers, including the East African branch.
The conference is timed to coincide with Global Tourism Resilience Day, which, according to the United Nations, is observed every year on February 17 as a reminder of tourism's vulnerability to emergencies and the need to build resilience into development strategies. Within the UN framework, this day is not intended as a symbolic gesture, but as an annual “checkpoint” for states and the industry: are destinations better prepared, are recovery plans realistic, and is there cooperation between the public and private sectors?
Bartlett: “Resilience is tourism's new currency”
One of the most prominent speakers was Jamaican Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, also the founder and co-chairman of the GTRCMC. According to the organizers and reports from the conference, Bartlett emphasized in Nairobi that tourism can no longer rely on the assumption of “normality,” because disruptions overlap and amplify: climate shocks, health threats, geopolitical tensions, economic volatility, cyberattacks, as well as the growing influence of misinformation and manipulative content.
In one of the messages relayed by media specialized in tourism, Bartlett said that “resilience is the new tourism currency” and that the goal is to “build it, measure it, and institutionalize it,” so that destinations remain credible under pressure and so that communities recover faster. This sentence reflects a paradigm shift in the sector: instead of treating resilience as an “add-on” to marketing and product development, it is increasingly viewed as the foundation of trust for travelers, investors, and the local population. In practice, this means that a destination's reputation increasingly depends on how quickly it can normalize traffic, accommodation, security protocols, and communication after a shock.
Back on the table: Global Tourism Resilience Fund
The central political demand of Jamaica and Bartlett was the relaunch of the initiative to establish the Global Tourism Resilience Fund – a mechanism that, according to available descriptions, should ensure stable funding for the preparation, rapid response, and recovery of destinations affected by crises.
The idea relies on the argument that the effects of tourism collapse are unevenly distributed: destinations that depend on arrivals often lack fiscal space and access to affordable capital when a shock occurs, so recovery is prolonged, and the damage spills over into jobs, small businesses, and local budgets.
The discussion about the fund in Nairobi builds on the broader goal that resilience is “not resolved after a disaster,” but that it is set up financially and institutionally in advance – through business continuity plans, crisis protocols, and investments in infrastructure and people. Bartlett's message, as reported in several reports, was that without an international financing instrument, resilience remains a slogan, especially in states that are most exposed to shocks and least able to withstand a long-term drop in income.
Kenya seeks structured financing and faster policy implementation
Messages about the need for financial solutions did not only come from the Jamaican delegation. In regional reports, Kenyan representatives warned that in crises, it is not only arrival numbers that collapse, but also livelihoods: workers' wages, the viability of families and small businesses, and the “dignity of communities” that live from tourism.
In this framework, Nairobi seeks to position the conference as a place where, along with the exchange of experience, operational steps are agreed upon – especially regarding financing, risk management standards, and strengthening destination capacities. Ahead of the conference, Kenyan media reported that the speakers would include representatives of institutions related to the preservation of natural heritage, which also opens the question of how crises affect protected areas and tourism products that depend on nature. The host thereby sent a signal that resilience in tourism cannot be reduced to hotels and airports, but also includes ecosystems, local communities, and public services that enable the security and accessibility of destinations.
The role of GTRCMC and the East African branch in Kenya
The Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre was developed as a response to increasingly frequent disruptions in tourism flows and the need for destinations not to rely exclusively on improvisation. According to publicly available descriptions, it is an international network that connects research, the creation of risk assessment tools, and cooperation with governments and the private sector in crisis situations. In East Africa, GTRCMC has an institutional base through a center connected to Kenyatta University, which gives the conference a local infrastructure for continued work even after the event ends. It is precisely this combination – an international initiative and regional capacity – that is often highlighted as a prerequisite for recommendations not to remain at the level of conference conclusions. Participants in Nairobi spoke openly that resilience will be measured by whether knowledge and protocols reach destination managers, small service providers, and communities that live from tourism, and not by the number of panels and declarations.
Digital risks: from cyberattacks to false information
One of the themes that ran through several announcements and statements is the digital vulnerability of tourism. Cyberattacks on reservation systems, airports, hotel chains, and public services, together with the spread of misinformation about destination safety, can cause cancellations and a long-term reputation hit in a short period.
In the announcement, the organizers emphasized that the conference also addresses “systemic failures,” namely service interruptions and logistical bottlenecks that have a domino effect in a globally connected industry.
For destinations, this raises the question of standards: how much more resilient are systems that have data recovery plans, network segmentation, guest communication procedures, and incident management protocols, and how are such requirements incorporated into public policies and investment decisions. The issue of trust is particularly sensitive: when travelers doubt the security of personal data or the reliability of key services, demand recovery can be slower than infrastructure recovery. That is why IT security, crisis communication, and reputation management are increasingly linked at such forums as three sides of the same problem.
- Cybersecurity – protection of critical systems, incident management, and business continuity in tourism.
- Information resilience – timely, credible communication in a crisis and suppression of misinformation that fuels panic or damages the reputation of a destination.
- Data systems – use of analytics and early warning for faster decision-making in crisis situations.
Climate shocks and the “new normal” for destinations
Climate change in the tourism sector is no longer treated as a distant threat, but as an operational risk: extreme weather events, floods, fires, and heatwaves change seasonality, increase insurance costs, and pressure infrastructure.
In the context of the conference, climate resilience is linked to spatial planning, protection of natural resources, diversification of the offer, and inclusion of local communities, in order to reduce dependence on one type of product or one market.
For countries with a high share of tourism in GDP, especially Caribbean island states and certain African destinations, the issue of recovery speed after a disaster is a direct question of fiscal stability. In such systems, even a short-term interruption can mean a loss of budget revenue, rising unemployment, and pressure on social services. This is precisely why “resilience” is increasingly translated into very concrete items: how quickly the access road is restored, how quickly flights return, how quickly energy and water supply is established, and how the most vulnerable groups in the community are protected in that phase.
From discussion to practice: focus on capacity, technology, and workforce
According to program descriptions, the conference is set up as a platform for capacity building, with an emphasis on policy, investment, crisis response, technology, and workforce readiness.
This is important because resilience is not reduced to a “crisis headquarters” once a year: it requires staff training, job preservation plans, guest safety protocols, coordination with transport systems and health services, and a clear division of roles between the public and private sectors.
In practice, this also means investing in knowledge that until yesterday was not a standard part of tourism curricula: risk management, digital security, communication in crises, but also the development of a product that can “cushion” the drop in demand in one season. In discussions, the issue of the workforce often appears: how to keep people in the sector if crises occur more frequently, and how to ensure conditions so that employees can return to work as soon as the situation stabilizes. Destinations that succeed in this usually recover faster, because they can immediately deliver the service without lengthy rehiring and training.
Why the Global Fund is important to small destinations
Proponents of the Global Tourism Resilience Fund start from the assumption that financial instruments are often too slow or too expensive at the moment when urgent recovery is needed. If after a major crisis one waits for ad hoc aid, loans under unfavorable conditions, or long processes of international financing, destinations lose market share and jobs, and local communities are left without income.
The Fund is mentioned in Nairobi as a potential “buffer” that could:
- enable rapid technical assistance and financing for the recovery of key infrastructure after a crisis
- support the development of national resilience plans and crisis protocols
- finance digital readiness projects, including data protection and early warning systems
- support the diversification of the tourism offer and investment in sustainability
For now, according to available public information, it is not clear to what extent the fund would rely on contributions from states, development banks, the private sector, or combined models, nor how the criteria for access to funds would be defined. But the discussion itself shows the direction: an attempt is being made to translate resilience into a concrete financial instrument. In the industry, it is increasingly heard that the key question is not only “how much money,” but also “how fast” and “under what conditions”: in tourism, recovery time is often as important as the total value of the aid.
Broader framework: UN resolution and political legitimation of the topic
The conference in Nairobi is given additional weight by the fact that Global Tourism Resilience Day is formally recognized at the United Nations level. The UN states that February 17 was declared Global Tourism Resilience Day by General Assembly resolution A/RES/77/269, with the aim of encouraging states to develop recovery strategies after disruptions, including public-private cooperation and diversification of activities.
This moves the discussion about resilience out of a narrow industrial framework and makes it part of public policy: when tourism in a country generates a significant part of employment and foreign exchange earnings, the stability of the sector is directly linked to social cohesion, budget revenues, and regional development. At the same time, space is opened for international comparison: if resilience is the goal, then it can be measured through indicators of preparedness, recovery speed, and the ability of destinations to continue functioning with minimal interruptions. It is precisely this “measurable” aspect that was often emphasized in Bartlett's appearances and in materials related to the conference.
What Nairobi tells the industry: resilience as a standard, not an exception
The messages of the participants, according to available reports, can be summarized in one common point: tourism must be managed as a system that assumes crises, and not as a sector that is surprised by a “black swan.”
This requires new standards in planning and destination management, but also greater international coordination, because disruptions spill across borders faster than ever.
If the Global Fund proposal turns into an operationalized mechanism, and if the conference recommendations are translated into national policies, Nairobi could be remembered as the place where the industry took a step from declarations toward tools that can be measured: in financing, digital security, and the capacity of people on the ground. Otherwise, the discussion will likely continue at future forums, because the pressure of crises does not let up, and the market punishes destinations that cannot prove they are ready faster and faster.
Sources:- Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife of Kenya – announcement and conference framework GTRDCE ( link )- Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) – Expo Info Pack with dates, theme, and organizational framework ( link )- United Nations – Global Tourism Resilience Day observance page (February 17) and resolution A/RES/77/269 ( link )- The Star (Kenya) – report on the conference held at KICC and the event theme ( link )- Cruise Industry News – announcement and quote from Minister Bartlett on resilience and threat themes ( link )- Soko Directory (Kenya) – highlights on the need for structured financing and the socioeconomic consequences of crises in tourism ( link )
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