Highlights:
- The Global Tourism Resilience Crisis Management Centre is one of 2 Caribbean entities selected to be part of the Airbnb Community Fund, which donated more than USD$2 million to sustainability programs in Latin America
- The GTRCMC project will benefit Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada
When Hosts on Airbnb open their doors to travellers from around the world, they welcome their guests into their communities, too. As part of our commitment to share Airbnb’s success with our stakeholders, we want to give back to the neighborhoods and towns our Hosts call home, on this occasion with the Global Tourism Resilience Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) for a project that will benefit Jamaica, Barbados, and Grenada.
On 19 January, the platform announced the recipients of the 2022 Airbnb Community Fund grant. In 2022, the programme focused primarily on sustainability, with more than USD$6 million in grants awarded to more than 20 organisations working to protect our planet and promote sustainability and environmental conservation, in 19 countries on 6 continents, including Latin America. 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.
“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. 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,” said Professor Lloyd Waller, Executive Director, Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (HQ).
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 the Caribbean region with Jamaica and Puerto Rico; Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia and Chile will receive more than US$2 million in donations awarded to more than 6 different organisations. As in 2021, this year the Host Advisory Council provided important information for this process.
We are excited to announce the 2022 Airbnb Community Fund grant recipients. As in 2021, our Host Advisory Board provided important feedback to inform this process.
The 2022 grant recipients include the following organisations in the Latin American region:
- Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre (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
“As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organisation, EcoExploratorio relies on generous donations from individuals and corporate donors, in-kind donations and volunteers to help us provide exhibits and programming that spark imagination in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Thanks to the support of friends like Airbnb, EcoExploratorio has become a leader in Puerto Rico as an informal STEM Education center, funded by philanthropic partners since 2014, impacting thousands of students, teachers, and the general public annually from our current space at Plaza Las Americas,” said Ada Monzón, founder and president of the Board of Directors EcoExploratorio, Inc. Museo de Ciencias de Puerto Rico.
During 2021, the Community Fund’s inaugural year, Airbnb distributed grants to more than 150 organisations focused on Covid-19 relief, economic empowerment, and education as they worked to meet the unprecedented needs brought about by the pandemic. Many of these organisations have since shared how the funding impacted their communities over the last year.
To learn more about the Community Fund and the grant recipients, please visit the Airbnb Community Fund page.
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