In a historic first, G20 Tourism Ministers hosted more than 45 CEOs and Members of WTTC, who presented their plan to save the embattled Travel & Tourism sector and 100m jobs globally.
During their G20 Chairmanship of the Tourism Track, Saudi Arabia requested the collaboration of the global travel and tourism sector on developing insights to help accelerate the global recovery. As a result, the WTTC presented a plan which aims to restart international Travel & Tourism and recover 100 million jobs globally.
The private sector event was opened by Ahmed Al Khateeb, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism and Chair of the G20 Tourism Track and WTTC President & CEO, Gloria Guevara to set the scene.
This was followed by a keynote from Chris Nassetta, President & CEO of Hilton and WTTC Chair and contributions from CEOs and Ministers representing all regions of the world, including India, Argentina, UK, UAE, Singapore and Spain, who joined the private sector with a unified voice to agree that through joint collaboration, the recovery of Travel & Tourism can be accelerated.
The CEOs used the historic forum to outline what they believe could be a game changing new 24-point plan that would save the struggling sector.
According to WTTC’s economic modelling, around 100 million jobs could be saved through strong international collaboration, eliminating travel barriers and an international testing protocol at departure, amongst others.
Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said: “This historic meeting provided the best platform to establish public and private collaboration which will lead to rebuilding a sector which has been devastated by the pandemic.
“The nature of this meeting cannot be underestimated; it is the first time so many Travel & Tourism CEOs and leaders have been invited to sit in the same forum as G20 Tourism Ministers to establish a tangible plan to save the Travel & Tourism sector.
Ahmed Al Khateeb, Saudi Arabia’s Minister for Tourism and Chair of the G20 Tourism Ministers’ Meeting welcomed the initiative saying, “On behalf of the G20 Tourism Ministers, I commend the World Travel & Tourism Council and the global travel and tourism sector for their efforts to put people first during the global pandemic, by collaborating at the industry-level and with the public sector to put in place concrete actions that will protect millions of jobs and livelihoods, while ensuring that the sector is more resilient to crises in the future.”
Among the CEOs from the global private sector invited by Saudi Arabia included, Puneet Chatwal of Indian Hotel Company and Vikram Oberoi of The Oberoi Group among others.
Alexandre de Juniac, Director General, IATA, Fang Liu, Secretary General, ICAO, were also added their voice to testing being the solution to eliminate quarantines. Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary General of UNWTO also contributed to the debate.
At the request of Saudi Arabia, WTTC presented the recovery plan which includes twelve points for the private sector and twelve for the public sector, focusing on measures to reactivate international travel.
The unprecedented plan was pulled together with input from WTTC Members and covered a wide range of initiatives which hinged on securing international coordination to re-establish effective operations and resume international travel, including the implementation of an international testing regime at departure to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19.
Chris Nassetta, WTTC Chairman and Hilton President and CEO said, “WTTC’s private sector action plan is hugely important in supporting the recovery of the sector and bringing back 100 million travel and tourism jobs globally.”
“It will take significant collaboration between the public and private sectors to ensure a full recovery and rebuild traveler confidence, which is why today’s G20 meeting was so important. I’m encouraged by the progress we’re seeing around the world and look forward to the continued collective efforts to support our stakeholders and promote the incredible impact our industry creates for communities globally.”
Keith Barr, CEO, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG): “The travel and tourism industry plays a critical role in the global economy and in communities all over the world. The pace and strength at which a recovery can be supported is therefore of great importance. Collaboration between government and industry is absolutely key to this and I am incredibly encouraged by the level of partnership and commitment we’ve seen at this historic G20 meeting.”
Puneet Chhatwal, MD and CEO of Indian Hotels Company Limited (Taj) said, “In India, travel and hospitality contributes 9.3 per cent to the overall Indian GDP and accounts for over 8 per cent of India’s total employment. It is therefore imperative to come together and focus on the revival of the sector across the globe with optimism, hope and unity in solidarity of the industry. “
WTTC has been at the forefront of leading the private sector in the drive to rebuild global consumer confidence and encourage the return of Safe Travels.
According to WTTC’s 2020 Economic Impact Report, shows how the Travel & Tourism sector will be critical to the recovery. It revealed that during 2019, Travel & Tourism was responsible for one in 10 jobs (330 million in total), making a 10.3% contribution to global GDP and generating one in four of all new jobs.
It is also one of the most diverse sectors in the world, employing people of all socio-economic levels, regardless of gender or ethnicity, employing 54% women and 30% young people.
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