Edmund Bartlett to co-chair Beyond Tourism Day: tourism resilience moves to the centre of the global economic debate
Jamaica's Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has accepted an invitation to serve as one of the co-chairs of the Beyond Tourism Day 2026 event, which the World Economic Forum is scheduled to hold on September 25 at its headquarters in Geneva. According to information published by Breaking Travel News and eTurboNews, it will be a closed-door meeting under the theme "Resilient Growth. Renewed Impact", with approximately 80 representatives from governments, the business sector and civil society expected to attend. The discussions are expected to focus on the structural fragmentation of the global tourism system, labour shortages, technological change, infrastructure constraints, climate exposure and growing pressure on tourism destinations. The information currently available does not indicate that the meeting will be open to the public, while a detailed list of participants and the final programme have not been officially published. Bartlett's involvement is therefore above all a signal that the issue of tourism resilience is increasingly moving from specialist discussions on crisis management into a broader conversation about economic policy, investment, technology and development.
After receiving the invitation, Bartlett said that he sees the role as an opportunity to position the topic of tourism resilience more strongly within the broader agenda of the World Economic Forum. In an interview with eTurboNews, he said he expects that the engagement in Geneva could create space for tourism and resilience to be incorporated more prominently into future discussions connected with the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos. For now, however, this should be regarded as Bartlett's expectation rather than an announcement of a specific future WEF decision. The invitation to co-chair was not presented as an award or as formal recognition of Jamaican policy, but the published details of the invitation emphasise Jamaica's experience in placing resilience at the centre of tourism growth and competitiveness. It is precisely this approach that Bartlett has sought in recent years to transform from a national and Caribbean topic into an international framework for tourism risk management.
WEF increasingly views tourism as more than an isolated industry
The event in Geneva fits into a broader shift in the way the World Economic Forum describes and analyses travel and tourism. In the official report "Beyond Tourism: Coordinated Pathways to Inclusive Prosperity", published in November 2025 in cooperation with consultancy Kearney, the WEF states that the traditional, fragmented model of the tourism sector is finding it increasingly difficult to respond to problems such as labour shortages, environmental pressure, infrastructure needs and tensions between the interests of visitors and residents of tourism destinations. Instead of viewing hotels, airlines, tourism organisations and public administration as separate parts, the Forum advocates an ecosystem approach in which visitors, local communities, tourism companies, transport, finance, technology, public infrastructure, regulatory bodies and civil society are interconnected. Such a model is based on the assumption that disruption in one part of the system can very quickly produce consequences throughout the entire value chain.
In the same report, the WEF particularly highlights five groups of enabling conditions that need to be better aligned: people and skills, financing, infrastructure, technology and innovation, and policy and governance. This logic explains why the discussion of tourism resilience is no longer limited to preparing for natural disasters or rebuilding after a crisis. A shortage of skilled labour can restrict growth just as strongly as a lack of hotel capacity; weak digital security can paralyse booking or transport systems; problems in air transport can spill over across entire destinations; and climate risks can increase the costs of insurance, construction and infrastructure maintenance. For destinations that are highly dependent on tourism, particularly island and coastal destinations, the ability to anticipate such disruptions is becoming an integral part of economic policy rather than merely an issue of crisis management.
During 2026, the World Economic Forum further developed this approach through the Beyond Tourism Impact Stars initiative, launched with the Saudi Ministry of Tourism and Kearney. According to the WEF, the initiative aims to identify private-sector projects that are already delivering measurable results in addressing key tensions in tourism and to enable successful models to be transferred more effectively between destinations. The focus is not on simply copying individual projects, but on understanding why certain solutions work and under what conditions they can be applied elsewhere. In this way, the concept of resilience is linked to competitiveness and growth: a destination is not considered resilient merely because it can return to its previous state after a shock, but also because it has the institutions, knowledge, financial mechanisms and infrastructure that enable it to adapt before a disruption develops into a crisis.
Jamaica has been building an international platform for tourism resilience for years
Bartlett's role in Geneva builds on Jamaica's years-long effort to institutionalise tourism resilience at the international level. The Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, known by the acronym GTRCMC, states that it was founded in 2018 at Bartlett's initiative, while its development and operational establishment were led by Professor Lloyd Waller. The Jamaica-based Centre operates as an international research and professional platform focused on preparing destinations for crises, managing disruptions and supporting tourism recovery. Its activities include research, education, public-policy advice, crisis communication, data analysis and the development of risk-management tools. Among the areas highlighted by the Centre are climate resilience, security and cybersecurity, digital transformation, entrepreneurial resilience, and preparedness for epidemics and pandemics.
According to the GTRCMC, the idea of a global tourism resilience initiative received strong momentum following the Global Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth through Sustainable Tourism held in Jamaica in 2017, as part of a partnership involving the then UNWTO, the Jamaican government, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. The importance of this institutional infrastructure became particularly visible several years later, when the COVID-19 pandemic almost simultaneously closed borders, halted a large part of international air traffic and called into question the business models of destinations that relied on a continuous influx of foreign visitors. The crisis demonstrated that tourism shocks do not stop at hotels and airlines, but affect food suppliers, transport, small businesses, jobs, tax revenues and the financial stability of local communities. This pattern further strengthened the argument that resilience must be built before a crisis rather than only after damage has occurred.
Today, the GTRCMC operates through a network of partnerships and regional activities, and describes its mission as helping destinations prepare for, manage and recover from disruptions that can threaten tourism revenues and people's livelihoods. The Centre emphasises that crises can arise in very different forms, from climate disasters and health emergencies to cyberattacks, market disruptions and security threats. It is precisely this broad definition of resilience that brings its agenda closer to the WEF's newer ecosystem approach. Although the two institutions have different roles and structures, both proceed from the fact that the tourism sector can no longer be planned effectively in isolation from transport, finance, energy, digital systems, local communities and public administration.
From a Jamaican initiative to observance under the auspices of the United Nations
One of the most visible results of Jamaican advocacy was the proclamation of Global Tourism Resilience Day, observed on February 17. In 2023, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/77/269 designating that date for annual international observance, with the aim of emphasising the need to develop resilient tourism capable of dealing with emergencies and other shocks. In its explanation of the initiative, the United Nations highlights the importance of national recovery strategies, public-private cooperation and the diversification of tourism activities and products. Jamaica was among the main drivers of the resolution, and Bartlett has for years linked its adoption to a broader effort to make resilience a measurable and financially supported component of international tourism policy.
The topic will gain additional institutional weight in 2027, which the UN General Assembly proclaimed the International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism through resolution A/RES/78/260. The resolution calls on states, the United Nations system and other relevant actors to use that year to promote activities linking sustainable tourism with inclusive development, environmental protection, local economies and international cooperation. Such a framework demonstrates that resilience and sustainability are increasingly treated as interconnected rather than separate goals. A destination adapting to climate change, for example, must simultaneously consider resource protection, job quality, local infrastructure and the community's ability to retain the economic benefits of tourism. For Bartlett, the event in Geneva therefore comes at a time when the discussion of these issues is already rapidly expanding beyond traditional tourism institutions.
Climate risks, technology and the workforce as a shared test
According to information published so far, the Beyond Tourism Day programme is expected to place precisely such cross-sector risks at the centre of the discussion. Climate exposure for tourism is not merely a question of extreme weather events. It includes water availability, heatwaves, coastal erosion, increased protection and insurance costs, transport disruptions and the long-term sustainability of infrastructure in locations dependent on natural attractions. At the same time, destinations face pressure to reduce the negative effects of growing visitor numbers on housing, transport, the environment and residents' everyday lives. The WEF's 2025 report specifically identifies tensions between visitors and local residents as one of the problems that the fragmented governance model can no longer address through marketing or sector-specific measures alone.
The situation is similar with technology. Artificial intelligence, automation, booking platforms, digital identity and data analytics can increase productivity and improve the traveller experience, but at the same time they change labour-market requirements and raise new questions about security, privacy and dependence on digital systems. A cyber incident at an airport, airline, hotel group or payment system can have consequences far beyond the company itself. This is why the GTRCMC lists cyber and digital resilience alongside climate and health preparedness in its programme, while the WEF places technology and innovation among the key drivers of the future tourism ecosystem. The discussion in Geneva could be important precisely because of the possibility of bringing to the same table representatives of sectors that normally plan separately, from government officials and investors to technology and infrastructure companies.
The workforce issue is equally important. Tourism growth depends not only on new hotels, air routes or marketing campaigns, but also on the availability of skilled people, the quality of education, opportunities for advancement and employers' ability to retain employees. Labour shortages emerged after the pandemic as one of the key constraints on recovery in numerous tourism economies, and the WEF lists them among the problems that require coordination beyond the boundaries of individual companies. If technological transformation is accelerating at the same time, the question is no longer merely how to fill existing jobs, but also how to develop new skills for jobs that are changing. This further connects tourism policy with education, migration, the labour market and digital strategy.
The Geneva meeting could increase the political weight of the issue, but concrete outcomes are still to come
Bartlett's co-chairing may increase the international visibility of Jamaica's approach, but the real significance of Beyond Tourism Day will depend on whether the discussions are translated into new forms of cooperation, financing or concrete projects. Because the event has been announced as closed-door, it is currently unclear whether a joint document, list of recommendations or other formal outcome will be published afterwards. It has also not been officially confirmed whether tourism resilience will be separately included in the programme of the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos in the next phase. Bartlett has expressed such an ambition, but decisions on future programme priorities are made by the Forum itself. For now, the most important fact is that the topic has been included in a discussion that places tourism in the broader context of global growth, geopolitics, technology, finance and infrastructure.
For Jamaica, such positioning has both symbolic and practical value. Countries exposed to climate risks and strongly connected to international travel are often the first to feel the consequences of disruptions originating far beyond their borders, from changes in air routes and energy prices to global recessions and health crises. Bartlett's long-standing message has been that this experience can be used to develop models that are useful to other destinations as well. The WEF event on September 25 will give him an opportunity to present that argument to a broader group of decision-makers outside the traditional tourism sector. If the discussion does indeed continue towards Davos and other international forums, tourism resilience could become not only a topic of crisis planning, but also a criterion for investment, infrastructure development, technological transformation and the long-term competitiveness of destinations.
Sources:
- Breaking Travel News - information on Bartlett's acceptance of the invitation, the date, theme, format and expected composition of the Beyond Tourism Day 2026 event, as well as his statements on tourism resilience (link)
- eTurboNews - details of the World Economic Forum invitation, Bartlett's confirmation of participation and expectations regarding the possible broader inclusion of the topic in future WEF discussions (link)
- World Economic Forum - the report "Beyond Tourism: Coordinated Pathways to Inclusive Prosperity" on the ecosystem approach to tourism, the workforce, finance, infrastructure, technology and governance (link)
- World Economic Forum - overview of the Beyond Tourism Impact Stars initiative and the approach to scaling proven solutions for more sustainable and resilient tourism growth (link)
- United Nations - official Global Tourism Resilience Day page, resolution A/RES/77/269 and information on the International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism 2027 (link)
- Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre - information on the Centre's establishment, mission, areas of work and international activities (link)