The importance of travel and tourism to national economies could help propel the sector to the “top table” of global politics during the pandemic recovery, according to World Travel and Tourism Council chief executive Julia Simpson.
Speaking at the Ministers’ Summit at World Travel Market on Tuesday, Simpson reminded delegates that the travel and tourism sector represented 10% of the global GDP.
She added: “Travel and tourism have always been an integral part of the global economy. The sectors are a critical employer in wealthy and poor communities. Sometimes it takes a crisis for governments to realise its value to give travel and tourism a seat at the top table.”
Simpson called on ministers to identify ways the sectors can act as “powerful forces” in countries and communities.
She added how she was struck by the approach taken by former president of Colombia, Jose Manuel Santos, who told the WTTC’s Global Summit in Cancun, Mexico, how he had managed to use to tourism to pivot the country away from drug cartels during his presidency.
“We have seen definitively that public, private and community collaboration is integral to the global economic recovery,” she said. “It’s this sort of engagement that will pull us out of Covid and out of the climate crisis. Not private sector, nor public can walk this journey alone.”
She went on to applaud ministers for their support during the pandemic. Simpson added that in the UK, the furlough scheme meant “many are still standing and will be able to get through this”.
“I am absolutely confident that things are coming back to normal,” she said, adding that sustainability was a key part of the recovery and that tourism industry investors were asking suppliers about their “green credentials”.
Nigel Huddleston MP argued that public opinion “spurred on” and effectively guided the government in its approach on sustainability issues.
“People expect to travel in environmentally sustainably way,” said Huddleston, adding that hotels were eliminating plastics because the public demanded them to do so.
Carbon off-setting schemes still had “an important role to play”, he said, pointing out that tax incentives for solar-powered housing and education would help shape the country’s greener future.
“I am quite optimistic that things are coming together. There’s a growing consensus between governments and consumers and they’re all pushing in the right direction. We’re pushing at an open door,” he said
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