In an impassioned address delivered at the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) annual Holiday Dinner & Fundraiser on Friday, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, called on the region to transform its legendary resilience from sentiment into science, warning that the era of unprecedented mega-storms has arrived.
Speaking during CTO’s Caribbean Weekend in Miami at Loews Coral Gables Hotel just weeks after Hurricane Melissa – described by meteorologists as one of the most intense storms ever recorded in the Atlantic basin – Minister Bartlett revealed that preliminary damage assessments place losses in Jamaica alone at between 28-32 percent of GDP, with some international estimates exceeding US$10 billion.
“Once again, the recovery of tourism will be the spearhead for the recovery of the nation,” he declared, pointing to historic precedents with Hurricanes Ivan (2004), Irma and Maria (2017) and Dorian (2019). “When tourism restarts, incomes return, hope returns, and dignity returns.”
The Minister underscored that travel and tourism accounts for more than 30 percent of GDP across several Caribbean states and over 60 percent in some of the most tourism-dependent economies. In Jamaica, the sector directly and indirectly supports more than 300,000 jobs.
Drawing on three decades of hurricane impacts, he cited ECLAC figures showing US$136 billion in regional damage between 1990 and 2008, and stressed that two events in just two years – Beryl (2024) and now Melissa – signal a new climate reality that demands urgent, coordinated action.
“We need to build capacity, to not only foretell disruptions of this nature, but to be able to mitigate, to manage, to recover quickly, and to thrive afterwards,” Bartlett urged, highlighting the work of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) which he cofounded in Jamaica as a vital regional and global resource.
Innocent Junior Richard, Deputy Chief of Staff to Haiti’s Minister of Tourism, John Herrick Dessources, spoke to attendees from the heart. Having taken two days instead of two hours to reach Miami after domestic flights were suspended, Richard declared: “We want to let CTO know that we’re still alive, we’re still fighting.”
He reminded the audience that Haiti had faced Hurricane Matthew (2016), the devastating 2021 earthquake, and now Melissa – yet the country refuses to be defined by disaster. “When Haitians say ‘Sak Pase,’ you (answer) ‘N’ap boule’ … (it means) we’re fighting and we continue to fight,” he said, before thanking CTO and every guest in the room: “I hope you (have) come with your check to contribute for Haiti and Jamaica … Merci anpil for your generosity. Haiti is back in CTO!”
Minister Bartlett also thanked CTO and its partners for their solidarity with Jamaica and Haiti. “The same seas that draw millions of visitors also carry storms of historic force. Yet in every season of adversity, one truth remains constant. The Caribbean rises. Our capacity to rise is not an occasional response, it is our way of being. That is what we mean when we speak of resilience,” he said. “Tonight my heart is full, and I’ve never (been) more proud of my Caribbean-ness,” he declared.
Earlier in the evening, Ian Gooding-Edghill, Chairman of the CTO Ministerial Council and Minister of Tourism and International Transport for Barbados, expressed regional solidarity in support of Jamaica and Haiti: “We’re coming together as one Caribbean family, united by our resilience, our creativity, and our shared hope for the future.”
Patrons enjoyed musical performances by Vincentian soca sensation Kevin Lyttle, Jamaican reggae artists Shuga and Spragga Benz, and U.S. Virgin Islands steel pannist Stan Brown. Award-winning Barbadian media personality Alex Jordan was the master of ceremonies.
Proceeds from the CTO fundraiser will support tourism workers impacted by the storm.
Sponsors of the evening’s fundraiser included Barbados (Gold); U.S. Virgin Islands (Silver); Antigua & Barbuda, CTO Allied Board, and Dominica (Bronze).
