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JHTA donates US$20,000 to battered Bahamas

Published:Monday | September 16, 2019 | 12:23 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
Omar Robinson, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association.
Omar Robinson, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association.

WESTERN BUREAU:

Omar Robinson, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), says that his association will be donating US$20,000 to assist the Bahamas with recovery from Hurricane Dorian. The category 5 hurricane left more than US$7 billion in damage.

Great Abaco and Grand Bahama were the islands worst affected. The death toll currently stands at 50, and 1,300 people are still missing.

“The JHTA will make a financial donation of US$20,000 through the Global Tourism Resilience Centre,” said Robinson, who was addressing Monday’s opening ceremony of the 2019 staging of the Jamaica Product Exchange Trade Show at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James.

In announcing the financial donation from players in the local Jamaica tourism sector, Robinson said that the organisation’s members were praying with much hope that the welfare of Bahamian people will improve significantly in the shortest time possible.

“It is our hope and prayers that the resources being channelled to the Bahamas will help safeguard the health and welfare of the residents and contribute to the rebuilding of the country in the shortest possible time. This is Caribbean solidarity,” declared Robinson.

CARIBBEAN SOLIDARITY

He said that in the spirit of true Caribbean solidarity, the staging of the premier trade show could not go on without him taking some time to extend sympathies to the residents of the Bahamas whose lives were disrupted by the disastrous hurricane.

“As we prepare to devote the next several days to strengthening and preserving Jamaica’s hospitality and tourism industry, we must pause to extend our commiseration to the people of the Bahamas, which was severely damaged by hurricane Dorian,” said Robinson.

According to Robinson, on an individual basis, many industry partners have been playing their part in contributing to the recovery efforts. He said that Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has been at the forefront of efforts to mobilise global support for recovery efforts through the United Nation’s World Tourism Organization and the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, based at The University of the West Indies.