The global travel and tourism sector risks a long road ahead ?if we don?t pull together?, warned Gloria Guevara, CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council.
Speaking during crisis talks between the government ministers and the business leaders at the World Travel Market conference, she said, ?It is up to us if we recover in 18 months or in three-to-four-years."
She further added, ?We are suffering a health crisis, that?s become an economic crisis but it?s also become a social crisis. 54% of women work in the sector and 30% youth." Ms Guevara conveyed, that, to prevent further job losses, the industry needs to come together to find solutions, even without a vaccine. "We believe working together, we can overcome this crisis."
?Depending on the decisions that we take and how we work together will depend if we can recover faster or if it will be like 9/11 that will take us longer. 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis impacted our sector most. The difference is that in one - in 2008 - we had very good private and public coordination and international coordination but we recovered in 18 months. The other one, it took us three-to-four-years because of the lack of international cooperation and the lack of public and private coordination,? she added further.
In May, WTTC launched its Safe Travels initiative as a signal to tourists that a hotel resort, a cruise liner or an airport with the Safe Travels stamp maintains the highest international standards for health and safety.
Gloria Guevara, WTTC CEO and president, urged the tourist boards to follow suit, saying, ?We need to make experiences the same around the world: that a hotel in London is offering the same experience as in Madrid, in the Philippines, and in New York, to guarantee that we are doing everything possible to reduce any spread of the virus."
Image credit: WTTC
