In keeping with its primary focus on sustainability, the 2022 Airbnb Community Fund has included the Global Tourism Resilience Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) on its list of list of grant recipients.
More than US$6 million in grants has been awarded to 20-plus organisations in 19 countries on six continents, including Latin America, working to protect the planet and promote sustainability and environmental conservation. The Global Tourism Resilience Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) will receive US$250,000.
“We are delighted to add tourism resilience as an important component of sustainability through our work in the Caribbean, we are confident that the donations will support local communities in preserving the countries’ natural and cultural heritage for future generations,” said Carlos Muñoz, Airbnb’s Director of Public Policy and Communications for Central America and the Caribbean.
Executive Director, Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (HQ) Professor Lloyd Waller spoke of the significance of the donation.
“The Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) is honoured to receive this timely grant as we undertake our vital research project that will help raise awareness among Caribbean Micro, Small and Medium Sized Tourism Entrepreneurs (MSMEs) about the importance of climate-responsible practices in their operations, as well as encouraging them to take urgent action to combat climate change,” he said. “We are excited to partner with Airbnb whose climate action corporate sustainability framework (which is committed to making Airbnb a Net Zero company by 2030), is in sync with one of the GTRCMC’s mandates; that is, building tourism resilience capacities for climate action and for global sustainability.”
In addition to protecting local biodiversity and wildlife, the 2022 Airbnb Community Fund is also focused on promoting climate resilience efforts in the Caribbean through supporting GTRCMC in Jamaica and the EcoExploratorio in Puerto Rico. Both organisations focus on climate change adaptation and tourism resilience to reduce the impact of hurricanes in the region.
The platform indicated that the Caribbean region — in the form of Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia and Chile — received more than US$2 million in donations awarded to more than six different organisations. As in 2021, this year the Host Advisory Council provided important information for this process.
The 2022 grant recipients include the following organisations in the Latin American region:
- Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Center (GTRCMC) in the Caribbean
- EcoExploratorio Hurricane education in Puerto Rico
- World Wildlife Fund Coral Reef Restoration Project in Brazil
- World Wildlife Fund Community Tourism projects in the Andean-coastal foothills of Nariño in Colombia
- World Wildlife Fund Climate Change and Xochimilco Wetland Restoration in Mexico
- World Wildlife Fund Project to Protect the Jaguar and Marine Sea Turtles in Costa Rica
- World Wildlife Fund Climate Change and Cities + Green in Chile.
