ITB delegates warn of climate adaptation gap
Caribbean tourism leaders at ITB Berlin warned of a widening 'climate adaptation gap' — infrastructure and funding are not keeping pace with hurricane and flood risk, which has direct implications for logistics and island supply resilience, reported. The message reframes capex and contingency planning for regional operators.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization renewed an expanded Memorandum of Understanding with The Travel Foundation at ITB Berlin during the session “The Climate Adaptation Gap in Tourism: From Risk to Resilience,” signed by CTO Secretary‑General Dona Regis‑Prosper and Travel Foundation CEO Jeremy Sampson ([stlucianewsnow.net)]. CTO Deputy Director Narendra Ramgulam warned that plentiful climate‑risk data has not translated into funded projects, saying the region “consistently struggle[s] with turning those priorities into finance projects” at the ITB panel ([stlucianewsnow.net)]. Regional adaptation needs include an estimated >US$100 billion requirement for the Caribbean, while only about US$800 million has been approved from major climate funds to date, a gap highlighted by IMF analysis of financing shortfalls ([imf.org)]. Global context from UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2024 places the annual adaptation finance shortfall at US$187–359 billion, framing why CTO delegates called for “finance‑ready” projects that can attract public and private capital ([unep.org)]. Recent operational disruptors underscore the logistics risk: Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 on Oct. 28, 2025, triggering airport and port closures and producing damage estimates ranging from US$12.2 billion (PIOJ) to an AccuWeather estimate of US$48–52 billion, events cited by ITB speakers as examples of supply‑chain vulnerability ([unocha.org)]. Humanitarian and logistics responses after Melissa—coordination by WFP and UN agencies and US$11.5 million in aid delivered by Direct Relief—were used at ITB to illustrate how resort supply lines can be severed and why delegates pressed for investment in resilient ports, roads and contingency warehousing across islands ([wfp.org)].
