At the recent 13th WTTC Global Summit in Abu Dhabi, David Scowsill, President & CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) stated that the private and public sector must come together and focus on long term strategies, infrastructure and initiatives, not just short term goals, to ensure that the tourism industry is ahead of the growth curve.
Scowsill explained that, by 2050, there will be three billion people enjoying middle class wealth, enjoying more travel, creating more jobs and generating more GDP. According to him, the growth opportunities ahead should be a wake-up call to the private and public sector to join together and plan sustainable, long term strategies. “The industry needs to work together to drive investment in infrastructure, which is conducive to sustainable growth, not just now, but for the next 10, 25, even 50 years in order to ensure that travel & tourism continues to make a vital economic contribution to global GDP and jobs and that the new wave of middle class consumers from emerging markets can cross borders with ease.”
The two-day summit saw Ministers and public and private sector executives from all around the world come together in Abu Dhabi to discuss the many issues and challenges facing the industry in the immediate and long term.
Scowsill also explained that lobbying Governments to stop seeing tourists as a soft target for generating treasury cash would remain a key central strategic priority for travel and tourism over the next year. “WTTC will develop finance models over the next 12 months which will demonstrate, country by country, the negative economic impact on travel and tourism of punitive taxation on travellers. This data will be used to show government leaders, that taxing the tourist does not lead to positive economic growth – in fact, it leads to the opposite,” he said.
Scowsill further said that visa facilitation should be highlighted and will remain on the agenda for the next year, “Too many people still find it too complex and too difficult to cross borders as international tourists. Governments need to balance security needs with a change in mindset and implement visa waiver and trusted traveller programmes. The travel and tourism industry needs to continue to lobby for change and demonstrate to individual countries the economic opportunities, which will be generated through improvements in visa processes.”
He confirmed that WTTC will continue to campaign for more winds of change in airline de-regulation to allow carriers to operate more efficiently across national borders and provide greater choice to consumers.
According to the latest WTTC forecast, by 2023, travel and tourism’s total economic contribution will account for 10 per cent of the global GDP, US$10.5 trillion and one in 10 jobs. The sector is expected to add over 70 million jobs over the next decade, with two-thirds of those additional jobs in Asia. Asia will continue to lead the growth of the industry with an annual average growth of over six per cent.
