KENYA LEADS AFRICA AND PARTNERS WITH JAMAICA ON TOURISM RESILIENCE

Kenya has further solidified its position as a global thought leader in the tourism sector by hosting the 4th Global Tourism Resilience Day Conference and Expo in Nairobi, marking the first time this event has been held on African soil. The summit, which brought together over 400 delegates, aimed to shift tourism strategies from reactive crisis responses toward impactful and lasting transformation. During the event, Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife, Hon. Rebecca Miano, and Principal Secretary, Mr. John Ololtua, were honored with awards for their bold leadership in embedding resilience into national policies and protecting community dignity and employment. In his closing remarks, the Prime Cabinet Secretary, H.E. Hon. Musalia Mudavadi, emphasized that for tourism to remain a pillar of economic stability, African nations must prioritize the harmonization of regional resilience policies to ensure a unified front against global disruptions.

Cabinet Secretary Miano called for the establishment of a Resilience Fund and structured financing frameworks to assist African nations in weathering external shocks, emphasizing that tourism growth should not be built on "foundations of hope" alone. The conference identified that resilience has become the "new currency" of competitiveness, with experts underscoring the vital role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and research in predicting demand cycles and managing ecological shocks. Additionally, Jamaica’s Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, urged the strengthening of cybersecurity systems to combat emerging threats such as misinformation, which can damage a destination's reputation in a very short time.

The discussions also established that nature-based tourism is the primary pillar of the sector, requiring investment in youth-led innovation and the strategic use of data. The success of this conference builds upon the work of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre-Eastern Africa (GTRCMC-EA) at Kenyatta University, which serves 14 countries in the region. Key steps toward the future include the launch of the "Resilience in Action" report and the adoption of the "Nairobi Declaration on Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management," which sets a global standard for protecting the sector against future threats