What a year! Travel and Tourism 2022 will be remembered as a roller coaster year for the sector employing 10% of the global work force.
Gradually witnessing a resilient industry fighting for survival and turning this fight against COVID with more vaccination rules in place to make it COVID-free did not work.
Allowing the world to accept the pandemic and live with it seems to be working better, especially after widespread vaccination.
The Philippines Department of Tourism which hosted the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Summit in April 2022, when COVID was still an enormous threat to this ASEAN country, took a brave step for the world to come together. For the land of Mabuhay, it was a steep investment to welcome the world of tourism leaders to its shores. It set the foundation for communication and resilience, allowing the travel and tourism sector to stand together.
The second WTTC annual summit last month (November 2022) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was able to build on the achievements in the Philippines and took tourism not only to the next level but catapulted it into a bright future.
For me, Saudi Arabia was another very different experience. I asked myself, why would anyone want to visit KSA? Click here for my take. It could not just be for the camel chocolate. As a founder of Tourism Resilience Day, outspoken Jamaica Tourism Minister, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett was able to push his new Jamaica-founded Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) with new satellite locations around the globe.
The Saudi Tourism Minister, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, became a guardian of this global industry and spent the billions of dollars necessary not only to prevent many tourism economies from going under, but also for the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and WTTC by providing a second home.
Saudi Arabia invested by hiring the most known people this industry has to offer; implementing the best global tourism brands in its growth plans; and including programs about tourism and climate change, investments, and mega projects. The new top advisor to the Saudi Minister was known as the most influential woman in global tourism, former CEO of WTTC, and Minister of Tourism for Mexico, Gloria Guevara.
The Philippines was a life-changing experience. Here, they are the healthcare workers, specifically, the Philippine doctors and nurses that did a world-class job with a smile and a soul behind their every move.
