(Jamaica Information Service) Jamaica’s Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, has called on leaders in the Caribbean and in other parts of the developing world to come together and speak with a unified voice, in all international fora, about vaccine inequality.
He said that equitable access to coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines is critical in ensuring the economic recovery of developing countries, particularly those that are tourism-dependent.
“Indeed, the current state of vaccine inequity has to be dramatically reversed as global economic recovery efforts cannot afford to be delayed or prolonged for years, especially among the worst-affected regions,” he said.
Minister Bartlett was speaking during a Tourism Linkages Network digital forum on Friday (May 7), on the theme: ‘Tourism Diplomacy – Rebuilding Tourism Safely’.
He noted that since the onset of COVID-19, tourism-dependent economies, such as those in the Caribbean, have lost 12 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP), compared to 4.4 per cent globally.
