Category: Latest Travel News

Tourism Destination Governance and Development – Provocative Takeaways from Pre-Covid19 Times for a more stable and brighter Future after the Crisis – by Richard Adam, Chief Executive OPTIMIST, NED Board Member, Strategist, Intl. Developer (Destination, Resort, Real Estate). First published at Linkedin.

Every now and then, we all have seen tourism destinations temporarily dropping out of the market due to natural disaster or political crisis. As a non-affected observer, you may tend to say `bad luck` and continue business as usual. However, on the day I write this, tourism and travel have been completely extinguished for a couple of weeks already – on a global scale. For all of us, this is the first time that we see the impossible happening: the world´s largest industry has collapsed within a week, at a time, in which this industry conditioned itself to believing in unlimited growth and invulnerability.

In my 25 years of relevant executive assignments on 4 continents in the development and management of destinations, I gained significant insights and made many personal observations, reflections and analysis on the subject, including appreciating the importance of learning from successes and failures. You may not agree with everything I say but I am fairly sure, a few thoughts below may be haunting you for quite a while, if you are related to this industry.

In getting prepared or matured or improving an existing base for the upswing again, which will happen in one way or the other, it is reasonable to look back for a while, let´s say 10 years.

What significant factors have impacted tourism in the past then years?

Here are a few examples.

• Demand aggregators like Priceline (Booking etc.), TripAdvisor, Expedia and others have become the dominating distributors in tourism and Google has turned into the primary gate-keeper for information (More details here)
• Global hotel system giants have hijacked the hospitality industry sacrificing guest experience by pushing labeling and branding attempts to a state of saturation (more details here).
• China has risen from an almost irrelevant to the most important source market on the planet. Due to economic growth, other countries with large population such as India or Indonesia have generated growing upper and middle class with strong interest to see the world.
• In the Middle East, Emirates Airlines has become one of the world´s biggest carriers. Based on Emirate´s hub strategy, Dubai has turned into a hotspot of city tourism. Two additional Gulf carriers, Qatar Airways and Etihad, have created fierce competition and tremendous capacity to satisfy the massive demand to travel from relevant Asian countries to Europe and vice versa.
• In Central Europe, the consumer climate was excellent for more than 10 years in a row, as good as never before. Making a few trips per year, be it for business or leisure, has become a normal matter for international and local tourists.

As seen from my personal perspectives, currently living both in in Switzerland and Germany, a few Mediterranean destinations became temporarily unavailable due to political or economic crisis (e.g. “Arab Spring” countries, also Greece, Turkey). Swiss and German travelers increasingly reacted by rediscovering their home turf. As a consequence, these two countries along with a few other European ones, were benefitting from tremendously increased numbers of international visitors, as well as from reinforced demand in their domestic travel markets. In particular city tourism was continuously soaring to new heights, almost everywhere. In Germany and Switzerland, some cities became ´cool and sexy` international tourism hotspots, e.g. Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Zurich, Lucerne and a few others.

Let´s face it, if a place is regarded ´cool and sexy`, it is due to swarm intelligence and not because the local tourism promotion created it. In Australia, Melbourne is officially seen as one of the coolest cities internationally and regularly shows up in various global rankings. Then again, if you paid attention to recent swarm intelligence in that part of the world, you would have noted that Brisbane is coming up strong, which nobody would have believed only a few years ago. Swarm intelligence is not listening to tourism promotion, it has other indicators, in particular in today´s world of consumer digital sharing of information and feedback. Global destination evergreens, such as London, Paris, Hong Kong, Bangkok or New York City also had steady increasing visitor numbers. Venice, Barcelona and Amsterdam even complained about “overtourism”. In a nutshell, tourism has grown everywhere and so has the investment in new attractions or hotels or features to attract additional visitors.

In other areas of my personal horizon of insights, for example, South East Asia, China or the Middle East, commercial tourism does not have a history stretching over centuries and therefore not everybody is aware of the learning patterns of ups and downs of mature destinations or related scientific research. Other than in mature destinations, in rapidly emerging destinations we find continuous growth of global tourism has created another myth: “Build something glossy and spectacular and they will come”. When the result is spectacular or iconic enough, tourists may come automatically. In some cases, however, what was meant to be an iconic “honeypot” turns out into a “white elephant”. Well, in times of Covid19, currently all destinations are white elephants, some will pick up again; some will remain in a state of desperation.

The recent 10 years have led to certain mindsets and practises in tourism. Some may be relative to certain geographical areas, some may be of general nature; with some you may disagree. The fact is that, for the time being, it´s all over anyway.

Destination tourism is actually hit twice by Covid-19, in supply and in demand. First it will be complicated enough to reopen supply as long as the virus is not under control. Second, the demand pipeline will not be there for a long time due to weakened consumer climate, restricted travel logistics, health concerns and general uncertainty or even trauma. As the German Minister for External Affairs recently said: “We cannot organize flights to repatriate 240.000 citizens again.”

We have a new exceptional temporary state of emergency for a while, which allows us to step out of the usual treadmill and reflect known practises or good and bad habits. It forces us to think what to do better or differently for the times ahead.

Takeaway 1: Performance criteria

Here is the question: What is a continuously increasing development doing to the marketers and tourism executives of destinations, at least in the public sector in mature or even saturated destinations? Are they critically rethinking their approach of what to do better or what to improve in quality and yield when everything seems to be working for them? In this situation, you most probably lose your ability to distinguish between cause and effect.

It is a bad habit and should be changed. Unfortunately local tourism officials in the public sector and politicians are widely assessed by reporting of their visitor numbers. In gold rush times, it is not a difficult thing to achieve positive assessments. Most people in city tourism units became so used to presenting record numbers each year that they might have taken them for granted. If this is ongoing for over a decade, it is human nature to lose sight of the underlying causes. In long standing gold rush times, especially when you lose the ability to remain alert and self-reflective, you may start to think your marketing genius created all of that. However, in hotspots that´s hardly ever the case. You just get overwhelmed by the development of external factors that fall into your lap without significant contribution from you and that benefit from private initiatives and investments. If you are a tourism manager of a popular hotspot destination, the best thing you can do or still need to do is to provide adequate communication service to B2B and B2C stakeholders and get a few basics under control. That´s not rocket science!

While managers of striving emerging destinations are ambitious or often forced to create special experience along visitor journeys, to question, re-think and re-engineer offerings, officials of mature (or saturated) popular hotspots get into a mindset of “coping” with tourism rather than developing it. Consequently, this affects the attitude of people in charge, especially when growth shows over a long period of time and reporting the record numbers and self-praise become the dominating routine. Contrary to private businesses with opportunities to grow based on economies of scale, in hotspots, public authorities become blind, as they define themselves by visitor numbers and the known phenomena of tourist traps and questionable practises arise. What ambition remains beyond “patting yourself on the back”? Seen in the light of the product lifecycle theory, many long standing popular places already needed a relaunch, substantial repositioning before such an incisive incident as Covid-19. In post-Covid times, the laissez faire strategy of mass tourism in popular places may heavily backfire when people start to avoid big crowds which will be a logical consequence for a long long time due to lingering health concerns, hygiene and prevention measures and trauma.

When travelers are flocking in due to supportive global development and supply is no issue, what remains as a challenge and responsibility? Correct, you are tempted to lose your focus of becoming better. Who has stopped becoming better, has stopped being good. This is more or less the same principle that describes why the same team does not win the football world cup twice in a row! Except in public tourism the competition isn´t really driven by tourism offices. Here, the investors and visionary entrepreneurs create the difference in value proposition.

In times of flying high, as a public tourist office, you usually do not redevelop or restructure your strategic approach as you would do in less popular or distressed destinations. When things are succesful, why change anything? Also the real impact of promotional activities is questionable anyway, as tourism budgets are too small to leverage market penetration, unless you come up with something completely out of the box, which I have not seen for a long time. If nothing would come from a hot spot public tourism office other than the normal basics and the string of regularly reported record numbers, would anybody find out? The work of tourism officials in hotspots is less challenging and less demanding because they can hide behind ever increasing numbers and make their stake holders believe, that it is all due to their brilliant work. Depending on where you come from regarding the popularity of a destination, in rare cases, that may be true, however, in most cases it is not.

I must admit to know the temptation. In my 10 years tenure at the helm of a destination with 44 million visitors and 110 mil. commercial overnight stays per year with an annual revenue or 50 billion Euros, the numbers were flattering my ego, especially compared to the numbers of my competitors in the country, all performing at a much lower levels – in terms of visitor numbers. Considering the fact that I had built the organization from scratch starting as a one man show, I was tempted to believe, that I had played a significant role in this. Years later, when involved in much more complicated development and restructuring missions in the private sector, I better understood the difference between actual figures and personal impact. Today, with the blessings of wisdom and maturity, along with experience, I appreciate that you always depend on others and stake holder management is key.

In summary, second tier tourism destinations strive and fight to get to the next level, some with strategic sound concepts or at least with creative or intelligent measures. Hotspots do not do that because it works anyway. Falling into the trap of business as usual is very common, when lacking the pressure or need or ambition or all three. In general, in hotspots, tourism managers in the public sector cannot do much wrong. However, in second tier destinations, managers have to do essential things right to get to the next level. It is certainly more demanding to try making cream out of skimmed milk than to have plenty of cream to go around.

In terms of destination development from a greenfield perspective and the holistic thinking that should go along with it, I have published an article already a few months ago. For further details see here.

Consequence 1:

This is not new, but it is still unsolved and it might be the perfect time to tackle this issue. Destination tourism marketers or authorities define themselves via visitor numbers. However, visitor numbers are not really the objective of development or investment in tourism destinations. You expect revenue, profit, jobs, reinvestment, taxes, synergies. Therefore, a Covid-19 shutdown would be a perfect time to restart with a new and decent system of key performance indicators (KPI). Local destination managers should be striving to support local welfare in terms of new jobs, certain taxes, investment, RevPar and other real asset development. Value based strategies, instead of headcounts. The data for such strategies are available and it is not overly complicated to put it into a set of KPIs to measure performance of local tourism authorities, instead of taking the credit for record visitor numbers in good times and taking external factors as excuses in bad times. There is no point in that, so why rebuilding a destination management system of yesterday again.

You get what you go for. So it is essential how you define objectives and the KPIs to measure performance and how you define them. Pure visitor numbers as objectives and measure of performance certainly do not reflect a real asset. So, why not strive for a quality approach to increase the destination welfare. An isolated focus on visitor numbers (not related to other factors) is useless as it does not say anything about destination development or the performance of destination management.

Takeaway 2: Executive profiles

The development of stable and long-lasting success (due to external factors) influences the mindset of local authorities when it comes to hiring new tourism executives in the public sector. Myth #1 is the assumption that people from known hotspots are better marketers than people from second tier places, which is very far from the truth. Myth #2 is that these authorities create a profile of criteria which is very much based on what they know with the usual, buzz words based, box-ticking-exercise when hiring new tourism managers. In most cases, this is thinking in terms of promotion (in times of a sharing economy and advocacy, promotion does no harm but even less so does make a real impact, it is not providing the core leverage effect). It is not thinking in terms of what you might do, to get to a next level of competitive edge or value or other strategic assets. Tourism promotion, – marketing, -management or -development for a destination are different things and isolated promotion has the smallest – if any – impact.

You can easily find people, who can run promotional campaigns, establish B2B relations and visit trade shows backed up with the creativity of agencies. That is not rocket science, but unfortunately common (limited) thinking. Making noise in a `copy/paste` manner is good enough for many when external factors secure growth. However, to strategically reposition a place, develop and integrate stake holders, create a viable visitor experience at all touch points etc. is another dimension. In times when disruptors have demonstrated their ability to change business landscapes, hiring mechanism in destination development is supposed to address disruption even more. In terms of ´above the line´ activities, many people can do the job. However, below the line, that is what makes the difference, especially towards economic sustainability. Again, in gold rush times, the ambition of making a difference and therefore the dedication to hiring out people who think out of the box and who are capable going beyond the usual aspirations and making the difference, is hardly existing. As Steve Jobs once said: “Some companies hire smart people and tell them what to do. We hire smart people to tell us what to do“.

Consequence 2:

Covid-19 Shutdowns will destroy many jobs in the industry but may create new hiring waves when things pick up again. For destination executives, the model of pure promoters with experience in above the line advertising, who love the travel show tourism to get away from their homework, the logo distribution and campaigning, will be obsolete. You will need developers of visitor experience at all aspects, integration models considering all service providers in a common approach, an entrepreneurial vision that goes beyond the existing and beyond the obvious, people who see the next level, disruptors, deep divers instead of pure sales people. A hiring approach that says we need someone who can do what all the others are doing, will not get you far. You need people who go beyond and in particular, who know what “beyond” really means.

Takeaway 3: Focus! The heart of the matter

In the 10 recent years of continuous growth public sector tourism destination executives kept telling their authorities: “We are growing but in order not to lose pace or to get a bigger slice of the cake, we need larger advertising budgets, more promotion, more brand building (means labelling exercises in most cases), more money for search engine optimization, more exposure at trade fairs” and whatever the routines are in the business. From certain perspectives this works well, but not for the actual objectives. Normally, this argument is not more than spurious correlations. It works well, because it flatters the ego of all stake holders involved to see their own promotional activities. It is primarily self-promotion to stake holders. In today’s information overload, these messages hardly ever get to end consumers.

Another myth is that creating awareness (often referred to as brand penetration) is generating more visitors. Many places in the world are well known for something, but awareness is not the same as relevance to visit. Look at the narrative in tourism promotion, they all tell you the same stories of beauty, landscape, vibrant atmosphere, recreation and whatever they believe is characteristic. Awareness is of little value, relevance is key. Tourism organizations do not have the penetration power due to their often-limited marketing budgets to change an image. Even if they had, there are better and far more sustainable ways to spend that money.

Consequence 3:

A Covid-19 shutdown goes along with a shutdown and restart of known marketing activities. There is little value in distributing the same images over and over again. A good opportunity to plan from scratch and to throw old habits overboard. In today`s world of Instagram, Facebook, WeChat & Co., you are lost when word-of-mouth is not working for you and no marketing budget in the world can compensate for that. Remember, places get `cool and sexy` because swarm intelligence has identified them and not because tourism promotion is telling travelers that they are so. Invest in credibility and value, in advocacy and swarm intelligence by investing in visitor experience based on a defined strategy who your visitors are or who they should be. Don’t be the same or ´me too´, be different, be better. A more comprehensive way to get into the enhancement of visitor journeys with regards to infrastructure, social and services and seamless digitalization is provided here.

Conclusion

Now, in days of shutdown, we all have seen plenty of social media feeds in “stay home, visit again later” fashion. I cannot recall how many times I got nice images from tourism destinations, saying “as you cannot come here for the time being, at least you can see nice pictures”. An appealing gesture, but as so many destinations have done the same, I was not able to remember where they actually came from. What I have not heard of is what destinations are doing in shutdown days to improve their offerings. Isn´t a restart also an opportunity for a reset? By the way, is anyone seriously thinking, that all the social media channels, where billions of people distribute images, comments, recommendations and warnings, need tourism organizations to also distribute known images and promotional messages? In terms of tourism promotion narrative, every place is nice or beautiful or exciting or spectacular or whatever. So, what is the point? Who determines credibility? Who determines relevance to visit? It is swarm intelligence, based on advocacy, which again is based on visitor experience and retention assets only. Why rebuilding yesterdays approach based on external growth factors again?

You cannot persuade travelers of attractiveness and relevance, you have to create them and achieve competitive edge. Take the opportunity and let go of your beloved marketing habits getting a kick out of seeing your own ego-flattering interviews in glossy travel magazines nobody except likeminded people read anyway. Or re-think going from one travel show to the other, meeting the same people of the industry again and again, introducing another app version without seamless connectivity along the customer journey. Do your destination a favour and restart by doing your homework: enhance visitor experience at all physical, social and digital touch points along the visitor journey and win swarm intelligence, not (paid) travel awards. Get immune to the virus that has spread within the industry over the last ten years where the immune system was deceived by assumed endless growth and the auto-suggested effectiveness of the ineffective. Now is the time to vaccinate your destination with the one and only substance to stay healthy: sustainable visitor experience and real assets of relevance addressing all perspectives and senses for repeat visitors and advocates to generate swarm intelligence. Instead of the expected, create and deliver the unexpected. The old system in destination marketing is not capable of doing so, because it has become spoilt, fat and lazy just providing a superficial illusion of promotional success and therefore was heavily hit by a virus. Swarm intelligence does not care about your labelling initiatives called ´brands´, your lobbied travel awards, your paid PR-interview in travel magazines, the strategy charts sitting on your computer without any ownership at the front, your glossy advertising or Instagram feeds. The only truth is what travelers or visitors see, experience, take home and tell others. In a digital world even more so because advocacy means credibility, promotion does not.

For any issue in destination development, restructuring or restart, get in touch with the author via LinkedIn for an initial discussion. A proven extensive 360 degrees experience and a series of accomplishments in all aspects of destination lifecycle, structuring, governance, funding, strategy and execution on 4 continents can bring tremendous assets to your project.

Bangkok, Thailand, June 4, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / As hotels across the globe are preparing to reopen, one luxury Bangkok property has decided to let guests bring the best parts of a stay to your home. lebua Hotels & Resorts is launchings a “Hotel to Home” program that helps those itching to travel have a five-star experience without leaving the house.

Enjoy Michelin-starred room service, professional turndown and more with lebua’s new Hotel to Home program.

Beginning July 1st, lebua Hotels & Resorts is offering the Hotel to Home program to bring the luxury retreat experience to your residence. From a gourmet seven-course meal complete with wine pairings to floral arrangements, the services of a babysitter, and a mood-setting turndown, the experience harnesses the in-house expertise of the award-winning, all-suite lebua at State Tower to help treat homebound patrons to a bit of what hotel junkies have been missing. The hope is that the program “will instill confidence among our customers (and) hopefully help bring hospitality back,” says Deepak Ohri, CEO of lebua Hotels & Resorts.

What does that entail exactly? The program allows individuals to experience all of the wonders of lebua’s vertical destination at home, including a seven-course Michelin-ranked meal by either chef Ryuki Kawaski (Mezzaluna) or chef Vincent Thiery (Chef’s Table). One of them will prepare a decadent meal with wine pairings and Champagne aperitif. Also, you get the lebua exclusive tea and coffee service team, a sommelier or mixologist, babysitting service for four hours, a flower arrangement by the in-house florist, and turndown service.

If interested, you can call or email the property for booking starting July 1. A member of the team will discuss details like the infrastructure of your home, menu enhancements, preferences, etc. The hotel then issues the proposal and finalizes all details. Before arrival, all staff undergoes a health screening to ensure everyone is healthy and safe. Finally, the team will create, cook, and serve guests a bespoke menu in their home, leaving the host to relax and spend time with their guests.

“Hotel to Home is to bring the luxury and a level of comfort to our customers in their own homes,” said Deepak Ohri, CEO of lebua Hotels & Resorts, in a statement. “This will instill confidence among our customers, which will hopefully bring hospitality back.”

Paris, France, June 3, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / Accor, a global hospitality leader, has begun the exciting process of reopening some of its hotels that temporarily closed in response to the global pandemic. With restrictions now easing across many destinations, and the number of reopened hotels in the Accor network projected to climb steadily over the coming months, Accor is investing in the resurgence of the travel and service industries and economic recovery in the communities where it operates. ALL – Accor Live Limitless, the daily lifestyle companion that integrates rewards, services and experiences throughout the Accor portfolio of brands, has introduced a new global campaign: Reignite the Love of Travel. The campaign is launching with a short film designed to reassure and to create desire while uplifting its audience.

Steven Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer, Accor said: “During the lockdown periods everywhere, we have been surprised to see so many people on social media sharing their craving for travel with such uplifting humour and creativity: it was heart-warming for us to see that they were missing us as much as we were missing them. The message of our campaign then came naturally as we invested to prepare for the immediate holiday season as well as for longer term bookings. Seeing the quick business recovery in China, we wanted to do our part to reassure our guests and to reignite the travel desire.”

Accor’s ‘Reignite the Love of Travel’ campaign will launch with an engaging social media campaign. Travelers will be invited to share their travel dreams and inspiration, which will be combined to create a second ALL montage-style inspirational travel film.

Offering reassurance to travelers as they head back into the world, Accor’s ALLSAFE cleanliness program protects guests and staff, while assuring travelers they can feel safe while staying at Accor’s hotels. These measures have been developed with the support of Bureau Veritas, a recognized world leader in testing, inspections and certification services.

Added Taylor, “We have reacted to the crisis with a fully-fledged marketing strategy which firstly reassures our guests through the launch of ALLSAFE and that has established world-class cleanliness standards and protocols to ensure our guests are welcomed back in full safety. Secondly, in these challenging times we believe it is part of our mission to inspire people with positivity, humour and encourage them to reignite their love of travel.”

Accor’s ‘Reignite the Love of Travel’ campaign will launch in key markets worldwide throughout the summer.

About Accor
Accor is a world-leading augmented hospitality group offering unique experiences in 5,000 hotels and residences across 110 destinations. The Group has been acquiring hospitality expertise for more than 50 years, resulting in an unrivaled portfolio of brands, from luxury to economy, supported by one of the most attractive loyalty programs in the world.

Beyond accommodation, Accor enables new ways to live, work, and play, by blending food and beverage with nightlife, wellbeing, and co-working. It also offers digital solutions that maximize distribution, optimize hotel operations and enhance the customer experience.

Accor is deeply committed to sustainable value creation and plays an active role in giving back to planet and community via its Planet 21 – Acting Here program and the Accor Solidarity endowment fund, which gives disadvantaged groups access to employment through professional training.

Accor SA is publicly listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN code: FR0000120404) and on the OTC Market (Ticker: ACRFY) in the United States. For more information visit accor.com, or become a fan and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About ALL
ALL- Accor Live Limitless is a daily lifestyle companion. ALL harnesses and enhances the brands, services and partnerships offered by the Accor’s ecosystem. ALL delivers meaningful experiences and rewards to its most engaged customers while enabling them to work live, and play, far beyond their stay, at home and around the world. Thanks to this rich value proposition, Accor is bringing its Augmented Hospitality strategy to life with new digital platforms, iconic partnerships (Credit Cards, Mobility, Airlines, Entertainment with AEG, IMG, Paris Saint-Germain) and global roll-out plan for all its guests and 64million loyalty members.

Bangkok, Thailand, June 3, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is pleased to announce the launch of the Dream to Travel Festival, an online event that brings together travel trade businesses worldwide to learn, network, and celebrate the power of travel during these challenging times. The virtual event, unifying the travel trade through the infinite possibilities of the digital experience, will run for four weeks across time, space and borders from June 22-July 17, 2020.

“During these challenging times for the travel and tourism industry, we didn’t want to launch just another virtual event but a platform to truly engage, inspire, and spark ideas that address some of the challenges and issues we are facing today,” said PATA CEO Dr. Mario Hardy. “The festival provides a platform for the travel trade community to gain new insights, meet experts and peers, and showcase and browse products from all over the Asia Pacific region and beyond. In addition, we wanted to adapt the idea of networking in a fun and engaging manner through live experiences and virtual hangouts. This is the perfect opportunity for our industry to come together and work towards a more responsible and stronger travel and tourism industry.”

The Dream to Travel Festival will welcome both B2B and travel trade industry stakeholders to attend on a complimentary basis, and comprises three key elements:

•Dream to Travel Forums
Get a front-row ‘seat’ of the latest updates from both public and private sectors of tourism. Be inspired by influential speakers.

•Digital Showroom and Community Hub
Connect with the travel trade worldwide, browse or showcase the latest products, and access Festival links and recordings.

•Live Experiences, Virtual Hangouts & Giveaways
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Re-think how cultural exchange and meet-ups can be adapted for a virtual, socially distanced world.

The schedule of events will be similar to a festival calendar rather than a full-day event, with games and activities included to provide the opportunity to network, socialise and have fun. Each week of the festival is dedicated to a specific theme (Trust, Courage, Wellbeing and Infinite Possibilities) and to a specific destination. PATA is excited to be working with destination partners the Macao Government Tourism Office, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), and Tourism Malaysia. The fourth destination will be announced shortly.

Access to the Dream to Travel Festival is free for all. Interested participants simply need to register for their Attendee Pass to join the event app, receive updates and attend the event in June.

For more information, visit dreamtotravel.PATA.org.

Bangkok, Thailand, June 2, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / The world’s leading authority in sustainable tourism certification, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), has signed a strategic agreement with Sustainable First, the recently launched platform to champion sustainable tourism initiatives.

This partnership will give the GSTC the opportunity to continue to foster sustainable tourism practices around the world promoting the increased knowledge, understanding and adoption of its sustainable tourism principles and criteria.

As part of this agreement, Sustainable First will work closely with the GSTC to feature all hotels and tour operators of its Accredited Certification Bodies, as well as prominent GSTC Members.

Both organisations share a similar vision and have integrated the UN Sustainable Development Goals into their strategy, advocating for its use within the tourism industry. It is now every citizen’s responsibility to work together to rise to the United Nations challenge and build a better future.

At a time when governments are defining how to get their economies back on track, the world has realised the key role of the Travel & Tourism industry and the crucial part it will play in global economic recovery. There is a new found opportunity to drive consumer demand for trustworthy sustainable choices and guide travellers towards a more environmentally friendly behaviour.

“When many in the tourism sector are reassessing their operations, it is important to share the stories of the accommodations, tour operators, and destinations, which are certified as sustainable. Their stories of operating sustainably can be used as an example to inspire others”, said Randy Durband, CEO of GSTC.

“We are thrilled to have GSTC as partners, they are the industry’s ultimate authority on sustainability and we want to support their mission, while showcasing to our audience what the most sustainable destinations and hotels are according to the highest standards. These are times where transformation is essential and we are playing a part in this global mindset reset where sustainability is top of mind by inspiring travellers, showcasing the world’s most reliable Sustainable Tourism choices.” said Mafalda Borea, CEO and Co-Founder of Sustainable First.

About the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) establishes and manages global sustainable standards, known as the GSTC Criteria. There are two sets: Destination Criteria for public policy-makers and destination managers, and Industry Criteria for hotels and tour operators. These are the guiding principles and minimum requirements that any tourism business or destination should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources, while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for conservation and poverty alleviation. The GSTC Criteria form the foundation for GSTC’s role as the global Accreditation Body for Certification Programs that certify hotels/accommodations, tour operators, and destinations as having sustainable policies and practices in place. GSTC does not directly certify any products or services; but it accredits those that do. The GSTC is an independent and neutral USA-registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization that represents a diverse and global membership, including UN agencies, NGO’s, national and provincial governments, leading travel companies, hotels, tour operators, individuals and communities – all striving to achieve best practices in sustainable tourism.

Information for the press and media: www.gstcouncil.org/about/for-the-press/ and www.gstcouncil.org

About Sustainable First
Sustainable First inspires actions and strategies for moving towards a more sustainable pattern of development in Tourism providing prosperity and opportunities for all. The program’s vision is to make the tourism industry the leading activity sector in implementing sustainable strategies while linking them to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable First is not a certification program but aims to recognize individuals, companies and organizations making significant efforts and contributing to the environmental, social and economic welfare of the planet.

For more information contact us at:
Email: press@sustainablefirst.com
Web: www.sustainablefirst.com

Madrid, Spain, June 1, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / The world is slowly opening up again, new research from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) indicates, with destinations cautiously easing travel restrictions introduced in response to COVID-19. As the United Nations specialized agency releases its Global Guidelines for Reopening Tourism, signalling a transition into gearing up for stronger and better recovery, 3% of all global destinations have now taken steps to ease travel restrictions.

UNWTO has been monitoring the global response to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. The fourth edition of its COVID-19 Related Travel Restrictions: A Global Review for Tourism report, released today, again looked at the measures of 217 destinations worldwide as of 18 May 2020. The research shows that 7 destinations have eased travel restrictions for international tourism purposes. At the same time, several more destinations are engaged in significant discussions about the re-opening of borders.

Caution Remains

The report notes that 100% of all destinations worldwide continue to have some form of COVID-19-related travel restrictions in place. Furthermore, as of 18 May 75% continued to have their borders completely closed for international tourism. In 37% of all cases, travel restrictions have been in place for 10 weeks, while 24% of global destinations have had restrictions in place for 14 weeks or more.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “The timely and responsible easing of travel restrictions will help ensure the many social and economic benefits that tourism guarantees will return in a sustainable way. This will contribute to the livelihoods of many millions of people around the world. The sector is a driver of sustainable development and a pillar of economies. UNWTO stresses the need for vigilance, responsibility and international cooperation as the world slowly opens up again.”

UNWTO stresses the need for vigilance, responsibility and international cooperation as the world slowly opens up again.

Mr Pololikashvili also welcomed the growing confidence in the global tourism sector, noting it stands ready to return to growth. While tourism has been the hardest hit of all the world’s major economic sectors, UNWTO has led a joint response and last week released its Global Guidelines to Reopen Tourism. These guidelines outline the steps governments and the private sector can take to accelerate recovery in the months ahead.

Tourism-Dependent States Locked Down

Looking into global travel restrictions more closely, the UNWTO research shows that, the more important tourism is to the economies of individual destinations, the more likely they are to have introduced complete border closures. In the case of SIDS destinations (Small Island Developing States), 85% continue to have their borders completely closed for tourism purposes.

All UNWTO regions have more than 65% of their destinations completely closed to tourism: Africa (74%), Americas (86%), Asia and the Pacific (67%), Europe (74%) and the Middle East (69%).

Berlin, Germany, June 2, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / ITB China, the largest B2B exclusive travel trade show in China, will be the co-host of the 2020 TravelDaily Conference, set to take place from 25-27 November 2020 in Shanghai. In order to address the industry’s greatest challenges after COVID-19, “Rebuild with Synergy” will be the overarching theme of the event. Since its inauguration in 2008, the TravelDaily Conference, a global leading travel industry event, has been held for thirteen years in a row. The organizers expect around 1,300 delegates, including mid- and high-rank executives of major airlines, hotels groups, OTAs, destination & attractions, tourism boards, travel agencies, air-ticketing agents, cruises and car-rental firms.

Charlie Li, CEO of TravelDaily, said: “Covid-19 has brought the travel world to a standstill and everyone wonders if travel will ever be the same again. Our three-day event will bring together high-ranking attendees from various segments of the tourism sector, presenting the top industry developments, help all attendees explore new business opportunities and be prepared to tackle future challenges after the pandemic.”

New dates for ITB China 2021

ITB China 2020 that was postponed three months ago due to concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic has been rescheduled for next spring. ITB China 2021 will take place from Wednesday to Friday, 12 to 14 May, at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Centre.

“The travel industry depends on face-to-face meetings like no other. We are very much looking forward to co-hosting 2020 TravelDaily Conference in November and welcoming the world in China again in the customary manner at ITB China 2021 in Shanghai next year. Given the success of three editions of ITB China, and given the fact the China travel market is gradually recovering, we believe the participation of the international suppliers to the events will enable them to speed up the pace to opening up the China market”, said David Axiotis, General Manager of ITB China.

Early committed exhibitors who register for ITB China 2021 before 30 June 2020, can benefit from a discount of 15 percent on their stand rental fees: exhibitor@itb-china.com

About TavelDaily Conference
The TravelDaily Conference, combined with its breakout sessions of the China Hotel Marketing Conference and the China Destination Go-Digital Conference (DDC) Conference, will bring together travel industry professionals of China and the world. The show will be held concurrently with the third edition of Digital Travel Show, the only trade exhibition in China for promoting travel marketing and technology products.

About ITB China and the ITB China Conference
ITB China is China’s largest B2B exclusive travel trade show. ITB China 2021 will take place from Wednesday to Friday, 12 to 14 May, at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Centre. ITB China is a three-day business to business travel trade fair that focuses exclusively on the Chinese travel industry. The ITB China Conference will take place parallel to the show and is co-organized by the leading conference organizer TravelDaily.

Bagan, Myanmar, June 2, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office and Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism decide to postpone the regional flagship tourism conference to 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) announced during a webinar hosted by the Myanmar Tourism Marketing Association that the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism of Myanmar decided to move the annual Mekong Tourism Forum dates to February 15-16, 2021 from August 25-26, 2020, amid the current COVID-19 pandemic. The reasoning is based on current travel restrictions, and the low likelihood that conference delegates would be comfortable in a closed meeting venue with over 300 people.

Myanmar will continue to host the forum in Bagan essentially to promote its status as a UNESCO World Heritage site a designation that was awarded in July 2019. The theme will still be “Achieving Balanced Tourism”, with a focus on rebuilding tourism in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

The MTCO executive director, Jens Thraenhart said: “The theme ‘Achieving Balanced Tourism’ is more relevant than ever, because we have a big opportunity to reset tourism and become more sustainable by embracing innovative models such as ‘Doughnut Economics’, and leveraging regional collaboration by creating travel bubbles to accelerate tourism recovery.”

“While nobody can predict if travel will actually be possible in February and people will be comfortable in being together at a conference with hundreds of delegages, we are now setting the new dates, and hope for the best.”, continues Jens Thraenhart.

“We will be working hard with the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism of Myanmar, the private sector organizations led by the Myanmar Tourism Federation and the various domestic travel trade associations, as well as regional and international MICE experts to ensure a safe event with appropriate hygiene measurements in place.”

Bagan is an important and iconic destination in the Greater Mekong Subregion, so we decided to have the first physical post Covid-19 Mekong Tourism Forum to be in the UNESCO World Heritage town. The annual Mekong Tourism Forum is hosted by the GMS member countries via a rotational plan, which will shift forward by one year accordingly. As such, Viet Nam will be the host of the Mekong Tourism Forum in 2022.

A spokesperson of the Minister of Hotels and Tourism of Myanmar commented: “We are extremely proud to host the first Mekong Tourism Forum post the Covid-19 pandemic. This will be an important tourism event not only for Myanmar, but for the entire Greater Mekong Subregion, and even ASEAN, as the event will set strategies and collaborations for rebuilding tourism in the region in the most sustainable way. The UNESCO World Heritage site of Bagan, located in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar, dates back to the 9th centuries, and its pagodas have survived the changing times. There could be not a more perfect venue to define the future of tourism in the Greater Mekong subregion.”

The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office is planning a half-day Virtual Mekong Tourism Forum via video conferencing in the afternoon of Tuesday, August 25th, with a focus on resilience and recovery of tourism in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office, via the public-private sector partnership framework Destination Mekong, has implemented various initiatives to collaborate with the tourism industry in the region during these challenging times, including the establishment of the Mekong Tourism Advisory Group (MeTAG), Corona Virus Resource webpages to inform the industry about travel restrictions and policies, a support mechanism for its small businesses being part of the Experience Mekong Collection, and a partnership with Mekong Institute to curate innovative ideas and projects responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Mekong Innovative Startups in Tourism (MIST) program has also opened its nomination period for 2020 with a focus on resilience. Other regional are in development, such as a new regional tourism social media campaign #MekongMemories to create a content cloud of past experiences to inspire people to #TravelTomorrow, and the new Mekong Deals platform to feature non-refundable vouchers sold by travel operators to help survive this crisis during this challenging time. A virtual travel trade platform to connect travel businesses in the Mekong Region to over 50,000 B2B buyers in the Chinese market is projected to launch in Q4 of 2020 in collaboration with leading travel technology and marketing firm Dragon Trail Interactive.

About the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office
The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO), located in Bangkok, was set up with funding from the governments of the six Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries – Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The MTCO, which operates on annual financial contributions from each GMS country, acts as the secretariat for the GMS Tourism Working Group, comprising of senior officials of the six GMS countries’ National Tourism Organizations, to coordinate and facilitate sustainable tourism development of the GMS, and promotion of the Mekong region as a single travel and tourism destination, in collaboration with the public and private sectors. The MTCO manages its award-winning MekongTourism.org digital platform as a one-stop platform to promote responsible and sustainable tourism in the region, as well as the annual Mekong Tourism Forum, whose hosting is rotated among GMS countries.

About Destination Mekong
Destination Mekong was created in 2017 to promote the Mekong region, comprising of Cambodia, PR China (Provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan), Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam as a single tourism destination to stimulate responsible and sustainable development and investment, and drive inclusive growth. Endorsed by the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office and aligned with the mandate of the regional collaborative tourism framework of the six-member governments of the Greater Mekong Sub-region, Destination Mekong executes targeted projects and initiatives, including Mekong Moments, Mekong Mini Movie Festival, Mekong Innovative Startups in Tourism (MIST), Experience Mekong Collection, Mekong Heroes, and Mekong Trends, with feedback from the Mekong Tourism Advisory Group (MeTAG) and via public-private partnership investment structure, led by UNWTO Affiliate Member Chameleon Strategies.

Beijing, China, June 1, 1010 / TRAVELINDEX / IT&CM China and CTW China’s first 100% virtual exhibition event will fully take place on Dragon Trail Interactive (DTI)’s The Next Travel Market (TNTM) platform. The bilingual ENG-CN interface available on PC, mobile and WeChat mini-program provides convenient single-entry access for both international and China-based delegates on their choice device.

The comprehensive all-in-one proprietary system that supports two-way matchmaking and appointments with video chat; live conferencing; multi-media product presentations; networking; extensive data collection; and many more engaging features has made DTI the right Official Virtual Partner to deliver on the event’s business, education and networking proposition.

EXHIBITION
Meet MICE and Corporate suppliers from across China and the world. Learn about their profiles, download sales resources, view product presentations, swap e-business cards, leave messages, schedule an appointment or even hop onto a walk-in meeting.

PRE-SCHEDULED BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS (PSA)
Each exhibitor or buyer receives up to 24 x 20 min pre-scheduled appointment slots over 2 days. Slots can be filled in 2 ways: by Perfect Match and/or by Buyer / Seller Request.

WALK-IN MEETINGS
Supplement your PSAs with free-and-easy meets during designated timeslots. The buyer / seller can directly request for a “walk-in” meet anytime without a prior appointment.

BRAND SHOWCASE PRESENTATIONS
Tune in first-hand to the latest highlights and developments by participating destination and corporate brands, during 20-min presentations.

DRAGON TRAIL INTERACTIVE TO POWER THE EVENTS’ BUYER PROCUREMENT SHOWCASE
A new event segment featuring MICE, Association and Corporate buyers as they share their procurement requirements with relevant and interested destination and supplier leads. Each showcase is 20-min in duration.

EDUCATION
Daily opportunities to engage in the year’s hot topics with our prolific panel of industry thought leaders and experts. Stay tuned for more details.

NETWORKING
After a full day of business, stretch your social muscles even further over virtual conversations, ice-breakers and interactive games.

GAMIFICATION
Join us, participate wholeheartedly and be rewarded! Buyers stand to earn points and incentives by completing event missions. The more you participate, the bigger the reward.

Mr. George Cao, Co-founder & CEO of Dragon Trail Interactive “IT&CM and CTW have been key MICE and Corporate Travel events in China for more than a decade. This year, under extraordinary circumstances, we are extremely proud to partner with the organisers to virtually deliver the much anticipated industry gathering of the year.

Madrid, Spain, May 29, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has released a set of guidelines to help tourism sector emerge stronger and more sustainably from COVID-19. The guidelines highlight the need to act decisively, to restore confidence and, as UNWTO strengthens its partnership with Google, to embrace innovation and the digital transformation of global tourism.

• The United Nations specialized agency for tourism releases guidelines for strong and sustainable recovery
• Recommendations draw on cross-sector expertise of Tourism Crisis Committee
• Safe, seamless travel and restoring confidence key priorities
• UNWTO and Google strengthen partnership to promote digital skills and create new opportunities in recovery phase

The guidelines were produced in consultation with the Global Tourism Crisis Committee and aim to support governments and private sector to recover from an unparalleled crisis. Depending on when travel restrictions are lifted, the United Nations specialized agency warns that international tourist arrivals could fall by between 60% and 80%. This puts 100-120 million jobs at risk and could lead to US$ 910 billion to US$ 1.2 trillion lost in exports.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “These guidelines provide both governments and businesses with a comprehensive set of measures designed to help them open tourism up again in a safe, seamless and responsible manner. They are the product of the enhanced cooperation that has characterized tourism’s response to this shared challenge, building on knowledge and inputs from across the public and private sectors and from several UN agencies as part of the UN’s wider response.”

Safe and security protocols for tourism recovery

The new guide, a follow up of the Recommendations for Action already endorsed by the Committee, is focused on seven priorities for tourism recovery based on the pillars of mitigating the economic impact, developing safety protocols and coordinated responds and fostering innovation.

These guidelines provide both governments and businesses with a comprehensive set of measures designed to help them open tourism up again in a safe, seamless and responsible manner.

The guidelines highlight the importance of restoring the confidence of the travelers through safety and security protocols designed to reduce risks in each step of the tourism value chain. These protocols include the implementation of check procedures where appropriate, including temperature scans, testing, physical distancing, enhanced frequency of cleaning and the provision of hygiene kits for safe air travel, hospitality services or safe events.

Innovation key as UNWTO builds on Google partnership

The UNWTO Guidelines also highlight the opportunity to foster a digital transformation of destinations, companies and employees with initiatives such as the free online training with the UNWTO Online Academy and the implementation of apps such as the Hi Card to improve international interoperability at the airports and hotels. The role of technology in promoting social distancing in hotels and tourist destinations is also highlighted.

This comes as UNWTO strengthens its partnership with Google. Through this enhanced collaboration, the UN agency will work with Google to promote digital learning and online skills training so as to provide new opportunities across the global tourism sector.

Secretary-General Pololikashvili added: “We are thrilled to be working more closely with Google. The past weeks have highlighted the enhanced role technology plays in our lives and furthering the digital transformation of tourism will make the sector more resilient and create opportunities for people all around the world.”

About the Global Tourism Crisis Committee
UNWTO formed the Global Tourism Crisis Committee to guide the sector as it responds to the COVID-19 crisis and to build the foundations for future resilience and sustainable growth.

The Committee comprises representatives of UNWTO’s Member States and Affiliate Members, alongside the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Bank Group and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The private sector is represented by Airports Council International (ACI), Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), International Air Transport Association (IATA) and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) to ensure a coordinated and effective response.