business Essential news, comment and analysis Edmund Bartlett:


‘Mobilising resources within a diverse


geographical area is a challenge”


Bartlett: Caribbean needs disaster response centre


Jamaican tourism minister wants the region to have the capacity to respond quickly to hurricanes and other crises. Lee Hayhurst reports


Jamaica’s minister of tourism has called for the creation of a regional disaster response centre in the Caribbean following the devastating hurricanes in the region this year.


Edmund Bartlett told the


2017 International Travel Crisis Management Summit (ITCMS) in London that all regions reliant on


64 travelweekly.co.uk 23 November 2017


tourism must build capacity so they can react quickly in a crisis. In an unprecedented hurricane


season this year, the Caribbean suffered two successive category- five hurricanes that brought devastation to many islands and left an estimated $317 billion of damage. Bartlett said: “In our case we had something of a phenomenon


this year. Never before have we been in a situation where we have had two category-five hurricanes within days of each other. “The greatest challenge is how


we coordinate a quicker response that makes it possible for us to recover, and recover faster. “Mobilising resources within


a diverse geographical area such as the Caribbean and having a single coordinated entity that can respond quickly is the challenge.” Bartlett said one thing he would like to see come from bringing the


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