THE imminent two-day Global Tourism Resilience Conference is set to be a crucible for discussions on adapting to new business models in the tourism industry. Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett disclosed that the conference will prioritise tourism education and the future-proofing of the industry as its central themes.

“The methodologies and the business models are all changing, changing every day. If you notice what happened a few years ago, it was all about hotels, hotels, and hotels. Today, the sharing economy has come in, and people are staying everywhere, anywhere,” said Bartlett, during a press briefing at the Jamaica Tourism Board on Tuesday.

Scheduled for February 16-17, 2024, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, the event promises to be a focal point for discussions on evolving business strategies. According to Bartlett, the advent of new business models such as Airbnb and Uber and the anticipation of more with advancing technologies that reshape lifestyles and business operations will be key topics at the conference.

Responding to queries from the Jamaica Observer regarding recent suggestions from the entertainment fraternity to shift tourism marketing away from the traditional sea, sun, and sand towards incorporating local cultural activities and nightlife, Minister Bartlett expressed excitement for the development.

“The more of that you provide and the high quality of the experiences, the more visitors we have,” he said. “Invest more in these; have good nightlife; let’s have wonderful musical offerings. Let’s make Jamaica a reggae centre in real terms of the world, so people come here to get reggae 24/7, as in the same way that when you go to Cuba, you have Tropicana.”

Bartlett further underscored the importance of future-proofing Caribbean tourism, acknowledging the transformative impact of AI and digitisation, which will require training and building the capacity of individuals to adapt to these changes “or we will be left behind”. The tourism minister is of the view that traditional or “casual work” that has characterised tourism over the years is fading out.

“Much of that casual work is going to be replaced by machine intelligence, and the power of people to manipulate machine intelligence is what is going to create relevance, and we have to be on the cutting edge of it,” he asserted.

Highlighting another aspect of the conference’s agenda, Professor Lloyd Waller, executive director for Global Tourism Resilience, announced that a book, titled
Decoding the Future of Tourism, will be launched at the conference. The book explores emerging trends such as space tourism, underwater tourism, AI, digital transformation, and more.

“The chapter on space tourism is ‘How to Benefit from Space Tourism Without Having a Rocket.’ It looks at the value chain of the tourism space, crafted for small island developing states that may not have the capacity to build rockets but can support the sector,” Waller noted.

The Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, will host the 2nd Global Tourism Resilience Conference in Montego Bay. The conference promises engaging panel discussions, networking opportunities, presentations, and lively debates centred on building resilience in tourism.