ATM Dubai: Experts call for a resilience fund to achieve sustainability goals in tourism

ATM Dubai: Experts call for a resilience fund to achieve sustainability goals in tourism

The need for a resilience fund to tackle climate concerns within the tourism industry is the latest call by industry experts as the UAE prepares to host COP28 later this year.

“As we go into COP28, it’s time to put tourism at the table,” said Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica, while speaking at the Arabian Travel Market today.

“With this resilience fund, which will be looked after by the tourism sector, the money spent will stay in the destination we visit, used for mitigation, adaptation and recovery.”

Sustainability within the tourism industry may be the growing call, but it doesn’t come without challenges.

Industry leaders are calling for a greater connectivity between the public and private sectors, fuelled further by incentives given to those entities that are willing to take the leap towards green initiatives.

In neighbouring Ras Al Khaimah, which unveiled the design of its Wynn Al Marjan Island project earlier this week, sustainability remains paramount as it looks towards achieving three million tourists by 2030 in the emirate.

“We are the destination of the future and due to our size, we have less red tape,” said Raki Phillips, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority. “We pledged to be the first certifiable sustainable