Jamaica World Travel Week Launches Tourism Resilience Awards

“This is more than an event on a calendar. It is a statement — a statement that Jamaica is ready, willing and able to lead the global conversation on the future of travel.”

From Malta to Jamaica

The timing creates an unusual sequence on the international tourism calendar.

The WTTC Summit in Malta takes place October 7-9, followed immediately by the start of World Travel Week in Jamaica beginning October 10.

For tourism leaders participating in both gatherings, the center of the global tourism conversation will effectively move from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean overnight.

And Jamaica wants that conversation to focus not only on tourism’s success, but on its ability to withstand the next crisis.

For decades, Jamaica has been synonymous with beaches, music, culture, hospitality and an internationally recognized tourism product. Bartlett said another characteristic has increasingly become part of Jamaica’s tourism identity: resilience.

“We have weathered hurricanes. We have navigated a global pandemic that brought international travel to a standstill,” the minister said.

“We have faced economic shocks, climate threats and shifting traveller expectations. And through it all, Jamaica’s tourism sector has not merely survived — it has adapted, innovated and grown stronger.” According to Bartlett, that experience makes Jamaica a natural home for World Travel Week.

“Tourism resilience is not an abstract concept to us. It is a lived reality.”

He pointed to hotel employees who helped sustain the industry during the pandemic, tour operators who changed their business models virtually overnight and small guesthouse owners who rebuilt following storms and returned to welcoming visitors.

“Resilience is written into the story of Jamaican tourism, and it is a story the world needs to hear — especially now, as destinations everywhere grapple with climate volatility, economic uncertainty and an ever-changing travel landscape.”

The Tourism Resilience Awards

At the heart of World Travel Week will be the introduction of the Tourism Resilience Awards.

The new awards are intended to recognize people, companies and communities across Jamaica and the wider region that have demonstrated extraordinary resilience in confronting adversity.

Bartlett said the awards will honor those who innovated during crises, protected livelihoods when circumstances were stacked against them, and recognized tourism’s importance beyond visitor arrivals and hotel occupancy.

“Tourism is not just an industry — it is the backbone of families, of communities, and of national economies,” he said. The awards are also intended to have an educational purpose.

“The Tourism Resilience Awards will shine a light on best practices that other destinations can learn from, ensuring that Jamaica’s leadership in this space is not just recognized, but replicated for the benefit of the global tourism community.”

That distinction could make the new awards particularly significant.

While the World Travel Awards have long recognized excellence across the global travel and hospitality sector, the Tourism Resilience Awards will introduce another measurement of tourism leadership: what destinations and tourism businesses do when circumstances go wrong.

Bringing the two concepts together — excellence and resilience — during the same week could create a new model for recognizing tourism success.

Protecting More Than Tourism Numbers

For Bartlett, resilience ultimately comes down to people.

A hurricane, pandemic, geopolitical event or economic shock can rapidly move beyond tourism balance sheets and affect workers, entrepreneurs and entire communities.

“A single storm, a single global event, can ripple through economies, through jobs, through the lives of ordinary people who depend on this sector for their livelihoods,” he said.

“When we build resilience, we protect more than hotel rooms and airline seats — we protect jobs, small businesses, and the dreams of generations of Jamaicans who see tourism as a pathway to a better life.”

This philosophy has become a defining element of Jamaica’s international tourism diplomacy.

Bartlett has spent years advocating for governments and the private sector to prepare tourism economies for disruptions before they happen, rather than simply rebuilding afterward.

The concept is captured in a phrase the minister has repeatedly championed: destinations should not merely bounce back from crises; they should bounce forward.

Jamaica Wants to Be a Tourism Thought Leader

Hosting World Travel Week and launching the Tourism Resilience Awards is therefore about more than attracting another international event to Jamaica.

It is part of an effort to position the Caribbean nation as an intellectual and policy leader within global tourism.

“By hosting World Travel Week in Jamaica, and by introducing the Tourism Resilience Awards, we are affirming our role not just as a beautiful destination, but as a thought leader — a country that has turned adversity into expertise, and expertise into a gift we can share with the world,” Bartlett said.

He invited regional and international tourism partners, private-sector stakeholders, academic and research institutions and Jamaicans themselves to participate.

“This is where we will show them why Jamaica does not just recover from challenges — we bounce forward.”

Bartlett also acknowledged Graham Cooke of World Travel Awards, his team and Jamaica’s tourism team for their work ahead of the October gathering.

“I would like to thank Graham Cooke from World Travel Awards, his team and my tourism team in advance for what will be a spectacular week of events,” the minister said.

“Together, we will make this a week to remember, and a legacy that endures long after the closing ceremony.”

For six days in October, Negril will therefore be asked to play a role considerably larger than that of one of the Caribbean’s best-known resort destinations.

Following immediately after the WTTC gathering in Malta, World Travel Week Jamaica 2026 will attempt to connect two questions increasingly central to the future of global tourism:

What does excellence in tourism look like — and how do we make sure it survives the next crisis?

Jamaica believes the answer begins with resilience.