No less than “the future of tourism in the new world” will be at stake at the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) next Global Summit, to be held in Cancun March 23-25, 2021. Postponed in 2020, the conference is the most influential on the travel and tourism calendar, regularly attracting high profile speakers like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
The event promises to be the first major conference in the ‘new normal’ of the COVID-19 world with the aim of helping lead the sector into recovery and restore millions of jobs around the world. And in a sign of times, the event will be held in a hybrid format featuring “world-leading hygiene and safety protocols” to safeguard a restricted number of in-person attendees, but also offer 20,000 free online registrations.
Held in partnership with the government of Quintana Roo, participants will be able listen to a range of specially invited international guest speakers headlining the event and engage in special breakout sessions.
During a joint press conference in Mexico City, WTTC president and CEO Gloria Guevara and Quintana Roo governor Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez said that the innovative event will be conducted with responsibility and will become a platform for the recovery of the sector.
“Every aspect of the 20th WTTC Global Summit is being explored to ensure it complies with the world’s best available health and hygiene protocols to show with best practice, how major conferences can be held safely and securely in the new normal of the COVID-19 world,” said Guevara. “WTTC wants the Global Summit to learn from the challenges of the pandemic to showcase how we can use this experience to adapt to COVID-19 and lead the global Travel & Tourism sector back to recovery…
“The stakes in the Travel & Tourism sector could not be higher, so the WTTC platform provides an essential form for the very highest industry leaders and key government representatives to discuss and take action. We must use the Global Summit to establish a consensus on international cooperation and coordination to accelerate the recovery, as well as public/private partnership and restore vital public confidence to travel safely once more.”
Gonzalez added, “The WTTC Global Summit in Cancun will be the place where we will discuss the future of tourism in the new world.”
This includes the announcement of major new initiatives for 2021 by the WTTC, which has been at the forefront of international efforts to facilitate the recovery of Travel & Tourism sector, which has threatened the jobs of nearly 200 million people employed in the sector globally.
Last week, the WTTC offered to work closely with the new incoming US administration to recover international travel through a five-point list of top priorities that includes:
• Reopening borders
• The adoption of a comprehensive and cost-effective global standard testing regime at airports
• A commitment to seamless travel
• The re-opening of essential ‘air corridors’ to resume key international business travel routes, and,
• Re-establishing relations with countries around the world to ensure each is ‘open for business.’
The World Travel & Tourism Council’s Global Summit will be held at the Moon Palace Convention Centre.