WTTC: Four Principles for Tourism’s Swift Recovery After Covid-19

Photo source: WTTC

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has called for G20 tourism ministers to jointly commit with the private sector to four key principles to achieve a faster recovery for the Travel & Tourism sector out of the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.

The WTTC’s proposal comes before the extraordinary tourism ministers meeting takes place on Friday, April 24, to discuss how to combat the crisis crippling the entire Travel & Tourism sector.

The proposal involves for the private sector to be included in the coordinated Covid-19 response, ensuring all measures put the traveller at the heart of their actions. This would include a seamless traveller journey with enhanced health security standards enabled through technology, developing joint public-private and G20-wide health protocols as well as ongoing support packages for the tourism sector beyond lifting of lockdown and into the recovery.

“Οnly the G20 has the power to influence and drive forward a coordinated recovery effort needed to preserve the sector,” WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, says.

According to WTTC analysis, the coronavirus outbreak is threatening the jobs of 75 million people around world and one million jobs daily, significantly impacting major source markets.

Four principles for tourism’s fast recovery

Photo source: WTTC

WTTC’s four principles to ensure swift recovery for the Travel & Tourism sector and the global economy following the end of the COVID-19 outbreak, are:

1. A joint public-private coordinated approach across the G20 to re-establish effective operations, remove travel barriers and reopen borders. This would ensure the efficient resumption of flights, movement of people and widescale travel essential to re-build confidence in Travel & Tourism.
2. Enhance the seamless traveller journey experience, combining the latest technology and protocols to increase health standards. Consider the “new normal” for the sector with components of health, security, hygiene and sustainability with a traveller centric approach.
3. Work with the private sector and health experts to define global standards for the new normal, grounded in science which can be easily adopted by businesses of every size across all travel industries and can be implemented across the world.
4. Continue providing support to the Travel & Tourism sector during the recovery phase, throughout the entire travel eco-system. Financial aid for workers and businesses to promote a swift recovery. It is vital the domino effect is fully realised so that businesses large and small can all recover and prosper.

“Following these four principles will reduce the recovery timeframe of the global economy and offer reassurance to travellers that the time is right once more to explore and visit,” the WTTC says.

Photo source: WTTC

The latest WTTC 2020 Economic Impact report has underlined the economic importance of the Travel & Tourism sector to the G20, which shows it supported more than 211 million jobs, or 9.5 percent of the G20’s total workforce.

The G20 includes some of the key source markets to the majority of regions around the world.

According to WTTC data, Travel & Tourism across the G20 represented 76 percent of global Travel & Tourism GDP in 2019.

The sector also generated US $6,736.4 billion to GDP, or 9 percent to the total G20 economy, growing by 3.7 percent from the previous year. The comprehensive report shows this growth outperformed the overall G20 GDP growth in 2019 of 2.6 percent in the same year.