Cruise & Ferry Review - Autumn/Winter 2020

Because 80 per cent are asymptomatic, we believe it’s important to employ an extensive testing and tracing system. Also, we established weekly calls with our members to share best practices from around the world and from the countries where they are doing a better job. What are the keys to restoring consumer confidence to kick-start tourism growth? It is very important to have protocols in place to ensure the same experience throughout the traveller journey. That’s why WTTC’s ‘Safe Travels’ has been such an important initiative. Additionally, a coordinated approach from the government is key. The worst thing that we can have is uncertainty, that creates confusion for the traveller. We need to offer certainty and have the traveller feel safe when they go through their journey. What is the status of your other global initiatives and how are you making progress on the goals for each? We have three initiatives that we have focused on through this crisis. Our priority is ‘Security and Travel Facilitation’. This is to do with biometrics and through the Covid-19 situation the digital agenda has been accelerated. More than ever biometrics makes sense because of the ‘touchless’ aspect which would help us with health and safety, as well as the recovery. The second initiative is ‘Crisis Preparedness and Management’, and now more than ever it is important to learn from the past. That is why we launched a report in November that analysed 90 different situations over 20 years. It is very important to learn from our past experiences. Our third initiative is ‘Sustainable Growth’, where we have continued working with sustainability and several of our initiatives there because the sustainability initiative has been accelerated throughout this challenge. What is the essence of the messages of hope you are sending to members? Travel and tourism will recover. We will come out from this crisis stronger and better, but we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to reduce the timeframe of recovery. We can do this by working together in a coordinated approach, engaging with governments and making sure that we follow the path that we have defined. By doing this we can bring back the more than 120 million jobs that have been impacted. Some countries are already recovering – this is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we can learn from them. Countries that are recovering at a slower pace should follow the example of countries that are leading the way. Our role in all of this is to share best practices, knowledge, experiences and, most importantly, to be the voice of travel and tourism and unify the sector in a concentrated recovery effort. According to medical experts, it is clear that recovery is not binary: we can have public health, protect lives and simultaneously see recovery for the travel and tourism sector and the wider economy. This is what keeps us motivated and concentrated in our efforts to support this sector, which is so crucial for the many individuals around the world who depend on it for their livelihoods. CFR WTTC brings stakeholders from all aspects of the sector together to collaborate around important issues “Travel and tourism will recover. We will come out from this crisis stronger and better” Gloria Guevera COVER STORY 2 0 6