News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Oct. 19, 2018: As criticism of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman mounts around the world, following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Prince from the House of Saud was this week named to the board of Jamaica’s newly launched Global Centre for Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management.
The Center is dubbed as “a first-of-its-kind resource” in the Caribbean and will be based at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.
Named to the board is Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, a member of the House of Saud, who since 2009, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage.
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Prince Sultan was born in Riyadh in 1956 and is the second son of King Salman. He is a former Royal Saudi Air Force pilot who flew aboard the American STS-51-G Space Shuttle mission as a payload specialist, and a member of the House of Saud.
Prince Sultan is the first member of a royal family to be an astronaut, and the first Arab and Muslim to fly in space.
The Centre for Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management is being led by Jamaica’s Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett. Its mission is to carry out policy-relevant research and analysis on destination preparedness, management and recovery from disruptions or crises that impact tourism and threaten economies and livelihoods globally.
Meanwhile, Dr. Taleb Rifai, former Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), has been named as Chairman of the Board of the Center. Other board members include:
- Mario Hardy, Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Asia Travel Association, (PATA);
- Brett Holman, Chief Executive Officer, The Travel Corporation;
- Lee Miles, Professor of Crisis and Disaster Management, University of Bournemouth, United Kingdom;
- Ambassador Dho Young-shim, Chairman, UNWTO Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty Initiative, (ST-EP);
- Ryoichi Matsuyama, President, Japan National Tourism Organization;
- Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies;
- Earl Jarret, Chief Executive Officer, Jamaica National Group.
Several universities have also agreed to partner on engagements involving the Centre including Bournemouth University – United Kingdom; Queensland University – Australia; Hong Kong Polytechnic and the George Washington University – US.
The Centre will be formally launched during the Caribbean Marketplace Expo in Montego Bay, from January 29-31, 2019.
