admin The World Travel and Trade Council (WTTC) and the Government of Spain have collaboratively hosted a joint, hybrid conference in a drive to boost international travel amid the mounting international restrictions. The conference was braced by several public and private sector industry leaders from 95 countries and over 100 travel and tourism organisations. This conference was a result of WTCC’s call for a joint summit to be hosted by the G7 countries along with Spain, Australia, and South Korea. The goal for such an across-the-board endeavour was to save the tourism sector and the millions of jobs associated with it.
La Palma Declaration Signed
The conference resulted in the signing of the ‘La Palma Declaration’ by all key parties. The agreement urges all key players to adjust their respective business models to the changes in the global travel industry. It also encourages them to operate collaboratively to ideate new products and services that contribute to the industry’s rapid recovery. It recommended training programmes for tourism industry workers as well as SMEs to help them optimize the use of the augmented digital tools now available at their disposal. These skills have been labelled as indispensable for their survival in this ‘new normal’. The President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez was the opening speaker of the conference. He spoke about the benefits of the submit for millions of people around the world and stated, “The priority is to make it possible to restart international travel, and to do so, we must use new tools available, such as more accessible and reliable diagnostic tests, so that international travel ensures safety”. These critical times must be evaluated as a chance to modernize the sector, thereby making it more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable.
Other Recommendations
The declaration includes recommendations about the international protocols for Covid-19 tests prior to departures, and the acceptance of results after arrival. Such measures have been endorsed with the view to boost travel while effectively reducing -or even eliminating- long quarantine periods. International travel corridors will also be established under the La Palma Declaration. This will be implemented on an agreement basis to revitalize leisurely and business travels. The travel and tourism companies involved in the discussion were also asked to propose further suggestions to improve safety and boost travel rates. Flexible bookings, incentivizing domestic and international travel, alteration of payment terms, protocols for positive test results- were some of the common areas of ideation suggested. This joint conference comes at a time when the world tourism industry is relaying under the crushing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Last month a similar G20 meeting was hosted in Saudi Arabia, where 45 CEOs and WTCC leaders met to discuss the way forward for the industry.
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