Tourism leaders from around the world have agreed to join forces to improve visa-entry procedures to help stimulate travel demand and create jobs.
At the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 12th Global Summit in Tokyo, travel industry heavyweights agreed to work together to put pressure on governments around the world.
Led by a core group and supported by senior members of the industry from within the audience, the WTTC Global Summit identified restrictive visa policies as a critical impediment to the growth of travel and tourism around the world.
They argued that travel and tourism is a key contributor to economic growth and social development and today represents as much as 9% of global GDP and employs 255 million people worldwide.
The leaders have formed a Travel Association Coalition to co-ordinate messaging and activities across the different tourism sectors.
"Complicated, lengthy and often expensive visa processes are common across the world, with frequent vast differences in requirements for procedures and documentation," the group says.
WTTC and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) are doing a study on the impact of visa facilitation on job creation across the G20 countries which will provide the data needed to press the arguments for action, according to the group.
This will be presented at the forthcoming May meeting of the Tourism Ministers of the G20 (Merida, Mexico) and aims to provide input into the G20 world leaders meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, in June as they look for alternatives to stimulate the economy and create jobs.
By David Wilkening
