SEVILLE, Spain, 4 April 2019: Travel and Tourism was touted as the best channel for governments to generate economic growth, create jobs and reduce poverty according to World Travel & Tourism Council president & CEO Gloria Guevara.
She presented the bullish message to 1,500 global tourism leaders at the opening of WTTC’s Global Summit in Seville, Spain on Wednesday.
WTTC represents the global private sector of the travel and tourism industries.
“We are living in an era of rapid change, the pace of which, I predict, will only increase,” said Guevara. “Within the past decade alone we have witnessed advancements that have propelled the sector to new heights, fundamentally changing the way we live, the way we do business, and the way millions and millions of people travel every day.
“Last year we saw 1.4 billion international arrivals and 4.4 billion people flying around the world. Factoring in domestic tourism, there were around 7 billion trips last year alone – and this is just the beginning.
Speaking to the Global Summit theme of ‘Changemakers’ she predicted that over the next decade travel and tourism would generate an additional 100 million jobs.
“The reality is that the world is confronted by significant challenges that require coordinated global action, changemaking behaviour and more collaboration. If we don’t work on our future, the growth predictions could fail to materialise, impacting millions of jobs and progress towards the SDGs.”
Looking forward she said in the not so distant future transfers from airport to home or hotel would be in a driver-less taxis.
Further down track drones will drop off luggage in advance while virtual reality will enhance tourist experiences at historical sites by transporting visitors back in time, and live language interpretation will mean that nothing is lost in translation again.
Data analytics will help to manage flows of people making overcrowding a flashback, and local communities will live from Travel & Tourism while helping us to protect natural and cultural assets, she predicted.
