Speakers at Arabian Travel Market have called on governments and the private sector to work together to support recovery across the Middle East.
Ghada Shalaby, Egypt’s vice-minister of tourism and antiquities, told delegates that cooperation between ministries during the pandemic in her country offered a formula for others to follow to reopen tourism.
Speaking in a session run by the Global Travel & Tourism Resilience Council, Shalaby said the ministries of tourism and health continued to cooperate as the country targeted between six and seven million visitors in 2021.
Scott Hume, senior vice-president of operations for Global Rescue, added: “There needs to be significant industry and international governmental collaboration to solve information gathering and distribution efforts across the globe to get travel started.
“On a national level, everyone is well aware of the complexities of the systems that need to be brought online to make travel easier and safer. However, we also need to address the issue of what happens when travellers get to their destination and how nations can instil a sense of confidence in travellers’ minds.”
Other speakers including Clive Bourke, president, DAON Emea and Apac; Edem Adzogenu, co-founder, AfroChampions; Kashif Khaled, regional director airport, passenger, cargo, security & facilitation, IATA; Stephanie Boyle, gead of industry and partner communications, Skyscanner; and Ernesto Sanchez Beaumont, managing director, Amadeus Gulf.