“Spain is showing its leadership by personally celebrating Vitor at this time”

The pandemic and its management have demonstrated a lack of global leadership that would lead to unity of action in both vaccination in all countries and the approved restrictions against international travel. “The fear and suffering of so many people has caused countries to turn on themselves, shut themselves down and sometimes make unreasonable decisions,” said Julia Simpson, President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). “Sometimes fear is heard more than knowledge‘, he explains hosteltor During his time in Vitor, the exhibition in person at this time “demonstrates Spain’s courage and leadership ability.”

“It cost us a lot to follow the advice of organizations like the World Tourism Organization, which said from the start that closing borders is not the answer to the virus,” says Julia Simpon, because “the virus, of course, does not respect the borders set up by humans,” as we have seen. However, during these two years of the epidemic, we saw “how fear sometimes led to irrational and contradictory restrictions”, because countries decided at times “More to their fears than according to the recommendations of science“.

“Not because the WTTC says it, but because the science”

In the face of the omicron variant, for example, “we’ve seen that some governments acted as if they were another delta,” Simpson explains. Instead, it is now time for countries to reopen, and to loosen restrictions, not because the WTTC says so, but Because science says so”, he adds, “from the US and from South Africa have said in practice since the emergence of this variant, that although it is highly contagious, it has not had such dramatic effects on people”, especially given the high rate of vaccination in all countries. Approximately.

“Not at all,” Julia Simpson recalls, “and it’s something we must correct ASAP,”

The restrictions have hit jobs around the world, a drama to add to the drama of the pandemic itself, “It has already affected the GDP of all countries, and we have seen that in Spain, where tourism has affected the Spanish economy. It has affected the Spanish economy to 5.5% of GDP,” From the 12.4% it represented before the pandemic. Simpson also states that a significant portion of the 72 million jobs worldwide that have suffered the consequences of the pandemic are for youth, women, and people with middle and low education, “the most vulnerable in society in all countries.” , Confirms.

“Leap in innovation”

Simpson explains that the WTTC is calling on countries to “take a leap in innovation and manage the standardization of the four digital certificate systems in place today.” “Spain has done well because it has been able to persuade other countries to use the EU certification, but there are other systems, such as the USA and Australia… that should be standardized to facilitate international mobility at this point,” he explained.

Julia Simpson visited the HOSTELTUR suite on Wednesday.

Numbers give hope

Julia Simpson explains that we “are going down a path that, in three or four weeks, should roughly take us back to normalcy,” as long as no other aggressive variant appears, she explains. “Bookings for Easter are 80% more than last yearRemember, a year ago we were starting the vaccination campaign

“Spain has shown that an exhibition like Vitor is possible, in person, at this time. It is possible to travel with guarantees, and countries must make it easy. It was to come to Vitor: there were queues, of course, there were checks, the kings came.” …and here we are. This is real leadership“, He says.

Latest news about WTTC data:

– Bookings for Spain are up 320% through June and 80% in the summer

Recipes to alleviate the shortage of tourist labor

World Trade Center: Closing borders does not work in the face of the virus

In the Spanish gallery, check out the “positive atmosphere, with a great desire to restore normal activity”. According to the WTTC, this normal will start with young people “who really want to travel again,” and will have two effects. One will last for a while, “and will be contracted for longer periods to make better use of pre-flight arrangements,” and the other will be permanent: “the demand for sustainability in businesses and destinations,” Simpson explains.

In fact, according to figures from WTTC, bookings for Spain are up 320% through June and 80% in the summer. He considers that “Omicron was a bump in the road to recovery.”

World Trade Center Its annual meeting will be held in April in Manila, Philippines, as announced this Wednesday in Vitor. “It won’t be in March but in April, 20-22, because this part of Asia is a little bit late in terms of opening, it will be a live online event that we want to support reviving tourism in that part of the world, which is also in a good position,” explains Julia Simpson. In terms of vaccination.