April 23 -The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) calls upon G20 tourism ministers to lead a united and coordinated recovery for the Travel & Tourism sector out of the COVID-19 crisis.

 

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

 

The extraordinary Tourism Ministers meeting due to take place on Friday 24 April is set to discuss how to combat the crisis crippling the entire Travel & Tourism sector.

 

According to WTTC analysis, 75 million jobs around the world are at risk, with one million jobs on the line daily, significantly impacting major source markets.

 

Ahead of the meeting, WTTC praised the G20 for freezing the debt of the world’s poorest countries as a major step towards enabling them to bolster their health systems, to save lives and combat COVID-19.

 

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 wide scale 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 to aid and assist to the Travel & Tourism sector during the recovery phase, throughout the entire travel eco-system. Financial support for workers, businesses and for promotion for a prompt recovery. It is vital the domino effect is fully realized 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 economic importance of Travel & Tourism sector to the G20 is demonstrated by the latest WTTC 2020 Economic Impact report, which shows it supported more than 211 million jobs, or 9.5% of the G20’s total workforce.

 

The G20 includes most of the key source markets to the majority of regions around the world. Travel & Tourism across the G20 represented 76% of global Travel & Tourism GDP in 2019.

 

The sector also generated US $6,736.4BN to GDP, or 9% to the total G20 economy, growing by 3.7% from the previous year. The comprehensive report shows this growth outperformed the overall G20 GDP growth in 2019 of 2.6% in the same year. For more information, please visit wttc.org

 

 

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