Stating it is critical to the global economic recovery, the World Travel & Tourism Council has sent a letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the G7 Heads of State pleading for a coordinated response to safely restart international travel. The G7, chaired this year by Johnson, is due to meet next week at Carbis Bay in Cornwall.
The letter focused on three key measures:
- Put travel and tourism at the heart of all governmental decision making, recognizing the role it plays in global economic strength.
- Commit to implementing a program to safely reopen international travel by using testing, health and hygiene protocols, as well as digital health travel passes.
- Reopen international borders with between countries with successful vaccination rollouts and low levels of infection, such as the US and the UK.
The WTTC said the global recovery will not be achieved unless international mobility resumes and helps bring back millions of jobs.
According to WTTC data, in 2019, travel and tourism contributed to 10.4% of global GDP and created more than 330 million jobs, that’s one in ten jobs across the world. However, during the pandemic, some 62 million hospitality-related jobs were lost and the sector’s contribution to global GDP slumped by US$4.5 trillion (-49.1%).