WTM Virtual to Explore the Way Forward for Responsible Tourism

Reed Exhibitions, the organizer of World Travel Market London, has gathered an unrivalled selection of voices to explore the way forward for responsible tourism through the WTM Virtual event.

The responsible tourism programme takes place across two days of WTM Virtual, with eight conference sessions beginning together a range of voices from across the world.

There are four sessions on Tuesday, November 10.

Resilience & COVID 19 (10.30-11.30) brings together representatives of Radisson Hotels, Visit Cornwall, WTTC, The Commons Project and Barcelona Tourism to discuss how tourism can find a path through this crisis.

Build Back Better (12.00-13.00) explores how we ensure the future of tourism is more sustainable than the past, with speakers from Euromonitor, the German National Tourist Board, VisitScotland, South Africa Tourism and My Green Butler.

Tourism and Biodiversity, Friend or Foe (14.00-15.00), asks what the industry can do to address one of the other significant crises facing the world. It features leaders from the World Tourism Forum, the Elephant Protection Initiative, the Travel Corporation, Responsible Travel and Apamind.

The final session of the day is on Decarbonising Aviation (15.30-16.30) with a range of experts from Heathrow, Sunvil Holidays, Easyjet and Universal Hydrogen Co discussing how to tackle the most significant climate challenge for tourism.

The first session on Wednesday, November 11, focusses on Responsible Tourism in India – (10.30 am-11.30 am). Speakers from three states – Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala, will explore what the country is doing to develop its position as a leading destination for responsible tourism.

Later that day Racism in Tourism (14.00-15.00) brings together the President of the Black Travel Alliance, the President of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, and the Experientialist in Chief of OutThere to discuss how racism affects tourism and what can be done about it.

Certification and Consumer Choice (15.30-16.30) hears from Greenview’s Eric Ricaurte and Kelly Bricker from the University of Utah’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism as to how, in the covid-altered world, certification can be used to both make tourists more confident and tourism more responsible.

The final session this year asks the key question: Can we make tourism better? (17.00-18.00).

 It features Justin Francis, the CEO of Responsible Travel; John Swarbrooke, Director of J and S Consultancy Limited; Eugenio Yunis, Advisor to the Board of Directors, FEDETUR, the Chilean Federation of Tourism Companies; and Manda Brookman, Director of Permanently Brilliant. Together they will explore the principles, practices and pathways the industry needs to follow to forge a brighter future.

All sessions can be watched live or on catch up on the WTM Virtual Platform.

All times are local in the UK.

WTM Virtual will take place during November 9-11, offering delegates the chance to arrange one-to-one virtual meetings to do business, attend conference sessions and roundtables, take part in speed networking and more.

The Greek Travel Pages (GTP) is an official media partner of WTM Virtual.