- October 18, 2024
- Posted by: SUSAN KIAMBATI KALANGI
- Categories: Blog, Weehub News
On Wednesday, November 6, 2024, the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre – Eastern Africa (GTRCMC-EA) at Kenyatta University will receive the prestigious Resilience Award at the Global Resilience Council’s Hall of Fame Awards dinner in London. This honor recognizes the Centre’s exceptional contributions to global tourism resilience and sustainable practices. GTRCMC-EA is a specialized resource hub focused on conducting policy-relevant research aimed at enhancing the preparedness, management, and recovery of tourism destinations affected by disruptions and crises. These challenges, which increasingly threaten the tourism industry, economies, and livelihoods worldwide, have underscored the need for a global initiative dedicated to building resilience in tourism.
The impetus for establishing a global tourism resilience initiative emerged as one of the key outcomes of the UNWTO Global Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in November 2017. This outcome, known as the Montego Bay Declaration, called for coordinated, institutional responses to a broad range of traditional and emerging threats destabilizing global tourism.
The GTRCMC was officially launched at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Jamaica and is headquartered at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Kingston, Jamaica. The Centre operates under the leadership of a Board of Governors, chaired by the Honourable Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, and co-chaired by Dr. Taleb Rifai, former Secretary-General of the UNWTO. The Regional Co-Chair for Africa is the President of the Republic of Kenya, with Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife serving as a member of the Board. In recognition of its global impact, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 17 February as Global Tourism Resilience Day, to be observed annually. Additionally, in 2021, the GTRCMC was named the World’s Leading Tourism Initiative by the prestigious World Travel Awards.
GTRCMC was awarded the World Leading Tourism Initiative 2021 to by the World Travel Awards.
The Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre – Eastern Africa was the first Satellite Centre that was established in Kenya in November 2019 and domiciled at Kenyatta University. The creation of the Centre was initiated by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya, in August 2019, following a state visit to Jamaica, together with the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife. The Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife is working with Kenyatta University as a key partner in the development of the Satellite Centre. The Eastern Africa Centre’s Patron is His Excellent the President of the Republic of Kenya. The Board of Governors Chairperson is the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife and the Centre is Co-Chaired by the Vice Chancellor, Kenyatta University.
Some of the research output by the Centre that has shaped tourism in Eastern Africa region
The Centre is a first-of-its-kind tourism resource in Africa, serving fourteen countries in the Eastern Africa region: Kenya, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its core mandate includes research, capacity building, and the creation of knowledge, toolkits, guidelines, policies, and projects focused on tourism resilience and crisis management. In March 2020, the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife officially gazetted the Centre, alongside the National Tourism Crisis Steering Committee, designating it as the key think tank for coordinating crisis management, response, and steering efforts for all crises affecting Kenya’s tourism industry.
Since its inception, the GTRCMC-EA has been a key driver of change in Eastern Africa. In 2020, it conducted a nationwide study on COVID-19’s impact, shaping recovery strategies that promoted domestic tourism, diversified products and experiences, and embraced digital technologies. Building on this, the Centre is piloting a digital inventory of tourism products and experiences in Kenya, with plans to expand across the region.
The Centre also fosters entrepreneurship and workforce resilience through its Paid Internships Abroad Programme, offering opportunities for Eastern African hotel workers, students, and graduates in the U.S. and facilitating mobility between Europe and Africa. In policy development, the Centre played a pivotal role in establishing Harmonized Sustainability Standards for East Africa, promoting unified sustainable practices in the tourism sector. In partnership with the Women Economic Empowerment Hub at Kenyatta University, the Centre is working to implement at least four gender-responsive policies by 2025 to protect women and communities in tourism from socio-economic shocks. This is achieved through research and active participation in national and county-level tourism policy development in Kenya.
Looking forward, the GTRCMC-EA plans to implement early warning systems, crisis mapping, and tourism imagery using GIS and Sentinel Remote Sensing. It is also setting up a Tourism Crisis Management Resource Centre with information hubs providing data on tourism resilience. In addition, the Centre is establishing Africa’s first UNWTO Sustainable Tourism Observatory and advancing visitor economies in conflict zones through collaborations involving Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Spain, and Greece.
Workshop hosted by Women Economic Empowerment Hub, Kenyatta University, in collaboration with GTRCMC-EA on 25th June 2024 in Nakuru County to initiate the development of the Nakuru County Tourism Policy.