UNWTO Chief Sees Positive Signs for Travel in 2010

UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, speaking on the occasion of the opening of this year’s ITB Travel Trade Show in Berlin, said the travel and tourism industry is leaving behind one of the most difficult years in its history, after international tourist arrivals fell by 4 percent in 2009, with earnings estimated to have fallen by approximately 6 percent.

He said the return of growth in the last quarter of 2009 and the first results from January 2010 suggest that recuperation is under way. In this framework, he forecasted a growth of 3 percent to 4 percent in international tourist arrivals for 2010.

“Though there are positive signs emerging from the global economy, we all recognize that recovery is still weak, uneven, easily reversible, and that many downside risks remain,” said Rifai. “It is, therefore, key to devise ways for tourism to be well positioned in any new economic cycle.”

Rifai highlighted the lessons learned from the UNWTO Roadmap for Recovery process: countries that were quick in reacting to and implementing measures to mitigate the crisis have seen that their initiatives have made a difference. He noted that “tourism can rapidly create jobs” inviting the sector to consider a “collective initiative that stimulates the preservation and creation of decent jobs and qualifies human resources to be part of the transformation to the green economy.

“It seems that our global economic order and our global ecological balance are both challenged at the same time,” Rifai said. “The entire development model of the last 60 years seems to be unsustainable and in question.”

Against this backdrop, UNWTO secretary-general underscored that “recent developments have revealed some of the structural weaknesses of our sector, both within the private and the public realms. There is clearly a need to revisit our business models in order to master innovation and technology as much as there is a need to develop comprehensive, clear, and strong public policies. We cannot build a meaningful public-private partnership without strong, healthy, and identifiable national public policies on travel and tourism.”