David Scowsill, president and chief executive officer of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), said recently that safety, security and facilitation were high priorities for the tourism sector, and significant investment had been made in initiatives to promote these priorities across airlines, airports, cruise lines, ports, attractions and hotels.
However, he said security threats could only be effectively addressed through strong and concerted collaborative efforts by governments, the international community, the private sector and civil society.
The Global Travel Association Coalition (GTAC) has launched a vision for enhancing security and facilitation to ensure the sustainable growth of travel and tourism.
“The organisations which constitute GTAC are committed to working with partners around the world to ensure that security and facilitation go hand in hand, and that travel and tourism continue to thrive and bring economic and social benefits to communities,” Scowsill said.
He said the WTTC believed that despite many challenges from terrorism, political turmoil, global economic development and the decision by voters in the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, the tourism industry would continue to grow this year.
Tourism in Northeast and Southeast Asia is expected to grow by 4.7 and 4 per cent respectively, stimulated by the growth of Chinese tourism at 6.3 per cent. South Asia leads the growth at 5.9 per cent, driven by India’s emergent economy. Europe will be challenged by lower visitor spending, but will still grow by 2.2 per cent.
The leaders of GTAC have also stated their readiness to work with governments around the world in many areas such as integration of the travel industry in local, national, regional and international security planning and implementation of structures and procedures.
They also want tourism stakeholders to focus on risk management to ensure that all stakeholders use innovative and sustainable security technologies and processes to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of security controls.
Another focus is the development of the specific skills needed to build intelligence and address security threats. Meanwhile, greater collaboration and coordination are needed among policymakers within and across law-enforcement entities, intelligence services, and the tourism industry.
Dissemination of transparent, accurate, timely and coordinated information in the immediate aftermath of an event are also needed as part of safety and security deals.
Currently, tourism represents 10 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product, supports one in 11 jobs and accounts for 6 per cent of global exports. In 2015, 1.2 billion people travelled internationally.
Although the sector is resilient overall, it faces growing challenges in the form of security threats, pandemics and natural disasters that are having impacts on destinations around the world.