Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism calls diaspora the country’s ‘Resilient Shield’

By Sophia Findlay

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has called on the island’s global diaspora to become its frontline defenders against misinformation, branding Jamaicans abroad the nation’s “resilient shield” in the fight to protect its tourism-dependent economy.

Speaking to a group of visiting diaspora journalists from the UK, Canada and the USA, over lunch at the luxurious seaside Half Moon Hotel, Bartlett argued that one of the most valuable contribution overseas Jamaicans can make is not financial, but narrative.

“Our diaspora is our resilient shield,” he said, his voice measured and commanding, “it is you who are best able to tell the story of Jamaica and to enable the perceptions; for facts to overtake fears.”

The journalists were on the island for the 11th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference 2026, held June 14–18^th at the Montego Bay Convention Centre under the theme “Diaspora Partnerships: Re-building a More Resilient Jamaica.” The gathering came as the country continues recovery from the devastating Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, which struck last October.

Bartlett warned that international travel advisories and viral media clips inflict real economic harm by distorting reality. “We suffer the unintended consequences of perception management,” he said. “When countries issue advisories against us, it has impact economically. It influences lives because incomes are affected. And these advisories are, in most instances, not reflective of the national reality, but reflect locations and areas.”

He illustrated the point with the hurricane coverage. “You are the only ones who can destroy a 10-second footage about the hurricane impact in Jamaica when that impact was really in Cambridge,” he said, using the area as an example. “And Cambridge is just one district in Jamaica.”

The minister urged the establishment of a “knowledge pool” and a “diaspora resilient core” dedicated to telling the authentic Jamaican story, insisting that firsthand accounts carry more weight than official campaigns. “The diaspora can clarify that situation and counter it with images and stories of their own that is far more credible,” he said.

Bartlett’s appeal reflects a broader strategy. At the conference he urged the estimated three million-strong diaspora to move beyond remittances, worth an estimated US$3.49 billion in 2025, and become investors, partners and ambassadors, in support of his “Tourism 3.0” goal of attracting 10 million visitors and US$10 billion in earnings over the next decade.

“Your words about us resonate more than the advertisement that the Jamaica Tourist Board puts out,” he told the conference. “Your blogs, your TikTok… change the views of what CNN puts out in 30 seconds, because you have credibility and you have access.”

Meanwhile, as Jamaica continues to rebuild and rebrand in the wake of natural disasters and shifting global travel advisories, the government is relying on its own people, scattered across the globe, armed with the truth and a smartphone.

“So, for me, the message for you is to be part of that knowledge pool,” he concluded, looking around the table. “That resilient core… needs to be established to tell the Jamaican story.”

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