KATHMANDU — Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett says April 2020 is the date earmarked to officially open the Satellite Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management (GTRCM) Centre in Nepal.

The announcement follows the minister’s visit to Nepal to conclude discussions for a memorandum of understanding to establish the centre.

“The establishment of this new satellite centre in Nepal is another exciting step towards global resilience building through research and real time information sharing. The centre will be located at the Tribhuvan University, which houses approximately 200,000 students who will contribute greatly to the knowledge base and development of best practices for the region,” Bartlett said.

According to the ministry, the aim of establishing global satellite tourism resilience centres is to create a network of think tanks that will develop solutions to global disruptions that impact the tourism industry. These disruptions, the ministry noted, include climatic events such as hurricanes and earthquakes, terrorism and cybercrimes, among others, the Jamaica Observer reported.

“I am also pleased that the GTRCM has been receiving calls from other countries such as China, Cambodia, Myanmar and India to establish more of these satellite centres and we will now begin discussions for the framework to open these centres. The calls for these centres to be established, speaks to a global need to ensure the viability of the tourism industry through resilience building,” Bartlett added.