World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) President & CEO Julia Simpson, Carnival Corporation President and WTTC Chairman Arnold Donald with DOT Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat held a press conference today to open the 21st World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit 2022 and relay the message that the Philippines is the good news story of travel and tourism.
Simpson stated that by removing restrictions which had allowed many delegates attending the summit to be in the country physically, Secretary Puyat has led the Southeast Asian nations in opening tourism so much so that travel and tourism economy has turned a corner and is firmly on the road to recovery.
“Looking ahead, we forecast an average annual growth rate of 6.7% over the next 10 years, exceeding the expected country’s overall economy average growth rate of just 5.6%,” Simpson stated. “We also forecast employment will grow annually by an average of 3% over the next 10 years, generating 2.9 million new jobs, accounting to 21.5% of all jobs in the Philippines.”
Secretary Puyat expressed her gratitude for the WTTC President and CEO’s remarks, especially since the country has been hard at work in revitalizing the local tourism industry.
“In the nearly two years where international travel was put on hold, the Philippines has been busy preparing for the day when our country would be open to the world. We have put in place guidelines that will ensure the safety of our guests, our tourism workforce, and our community,” Puyat expressed.
Taking place in Manila from 20-22 April, the global tourism body’s highly anticipated 21st Global Summit is the most influential Travel & Tourism event in the calendar. The hybrid event is participated by more than 1,000 delegates from across the global Travel & Tourism sector, including CEOs, business leaders, government ministers, travel experts and the international media.
WTTC will be announcing the Philippines economic impact report data, compiled with Oxford Economics, tomorrow (21 April). It will also be announcing the Global Data and a forecast of the next decade. Destination 2030, a report that addresses destination readiness for travel and tourism growth and a groundbreaking Sustainability Initiative for the Global Hospitality Industry to help support small hotels and small businesses on their journey, will also be launched.
In the next two days, the Summit’s sessions will shed light on important topics such as the latest travel trends, sustainable investment prospects, meaningful human connections despite contactless interventions, environmental preservation, traveler confidence, seamless international mobility, and inequalities in the travel and tourism industry.