The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) today designated Spanish football legend and World Cup winner Iker Casillas as Special Ambassador for Responsible Tourism. In a virtual ceremony, the goalkeeper pledged to promote the universal benefits of tourism.
During the ceremony, which was held by videoconference, the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization, Zurab Pololikashvili, presented Casillas with a special plaque and thanked him for supporting tourism at a critical time when the sector has taken a hard hit and millions of jobs could be lost.
Pololikashvili said: “Sport and tourism foster the best of humanity. They promote the shared values of solidarity, teamwork and excellence. These are qualities that the global community needs now more than ever, as we face the greatest challenge of a generation. As a player, Iker Casillas is a winner and a leader, and I am delighted that he has decided to support us with his personality and new ideas to promote tourism.”
As a player, Iker Casillas is a winner and a leader, and I am delighted that he has decided to support us with his personality and new ideas to promote tourism.
For his part, Casillas expressed his appreciation for the designation and acknowledged that “inside and outside football we have a responsibility to people and to enterprises, so I am happy to be part of an organization as important as the World Tourism Organization.”
The player took the opportunity to echo the World Tourism Organization’s key message in the face of COVID-19, highlighting that “together, we can achieve it, it’s better to stay home today so that we can travel tomorrow.”
Casillas thus joins other prominent football figures such as Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Michel Salgado, Fernando Hierro, Didier Drogba and Vicente del Bosque, who have been designated as Ambassadors of the Organization for the promotion of responsible tourism.
The goalkeeper, one of the game’s most outstanding players thanks to his role in Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, pledged to give greater visibility to the values of this sector on the world stage.
COVID-19 has placed the whole world on lockdown, with new research from the World Tourism Organization showing that 100% of global destinations continue to have restrictions on travel in place, and 72% have completely closed their borders to international tourism.
From the start of the crisis, the United Nations specialized agency for tourism has been tracking responses to the pandemic. This latest research shows that while discussions on possible first measures for lifting restrictions are underway, 100% of destinations worldwide still have COVID-19 related travel restrictions for international tourists in place.
Out of all 217 destinations worldwide, 156 (72%) have placed a complete stop on international tourism according to the data collected as of 27 April 2020. In 25% of destinations, restrictions have been in place for at least three months, while in 40% of destinations, restrictions were introduced at least two months ago. Most importantly, the research also found that no destination has so far lifted or eased travel restrictions.
Opening the world up to tourism again will save jobs, protect livelihoods and enable our sector to resume its vital role in driving sustainable development
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Tourism has been the hardest hit of all the major sectors as countries lockdown and people stay at home. UNWTO calls on governments to work together to coordinate the easing and lifting of restrictions in a timely and responsible manner, when it is deemed safe to do so. Tourism is a lifeline to millions, especially in the developing world. Opening the world up to tourism again will save jobs, protect livelihoods and enable our sector to resume its vital role in driving sustainable development.”
The UNWTO research tracks measures taken since the end of January, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
Breaking the research down by region, UNWTO has found that 83% of destinations in Europe have introduced complete closure of borders for international tourism. In the Americas, this proportion stands at 80%, in Asia and the Pacific it is 70%, in the Middle East it is 62% and in Africa it is 57%.
UNWTO has been working closely with international organizations, national governments and the private sector, to support the responsible and timely recovery of tourism. Within the past two weeks, UNWTO Secretary-General has addressed Ministers of the G20 and of the EU Commission, making the case for tourism to be made a priority as countries look to recover from the crisis.
First of all, I hope all of you are doing well during these hard times. The COVID-19 pandemic is above all a health crisis that requires decisive and consistent actions to flatten the curve and stop the spread of the virus. However, it also has significant socio-economic implications not only for the tourism sector as a whole, but also for friends and colleagues whose livelihood and wellbeing depend on tourism, who are experiencing very challenging times.
As you all are aware, UNWTO, in close collaboration with other relevant UN Agencies and the private sector, has taken a strong stance and leadership to minimize all the imposed challenges while setting the framework for tourism stakeholders to be part of the global solutions. During the past weeks, we have shared with our Affiliate Members the main activities and initiatives carried out by the Organization on a daily basis, through our dedicated interactive platform AMConnected.
It is worth recalling that the Global Tourism Crisis Committee - a mechanism of coordination among Members States, the UN system and the private sector - held another meeting on April 16, and the inputs received from all the Affiliate Members have been convened through the institutional representation of the Chair of the Board of Affiliate Members.
At the same time, from our Department we have invited the Affiliate Members to share with us their initiatives and thoughts in order to incorporate the most valuable inputs into the ongoing exchange of information and debate. I would like to take the opportunity to encourage you to continue to share with us measures and initiatives you have envisaged to tackle the challenges at this stage and your prospect plans.
As always, I am at your disposal and look forward to hearing any comment you may have.
Sincerely,
Ion Vilcu
The top solutions for accelerating the recovery of tourism have been celebrated in the ‘Healing Solutions for Tourism’ Challenge. Launched by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and with the aim of identifying start-ups with ready-to-implement ideas for mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on the sector, the initiative attracted more than 1,000 applicants from 100 countries.
Tourism has been among the hardest hit of all major economic sectors. To rebuild confidence in travelling and to enhance tourism’s contribution to wider societal recovery, UNWTO called on innovators to share their ideas for positive change. Entrepreneurs pitched in three categories: Healing for People, Healing for Prosperity and Healing for Destinations. Over 1,100 applications were received and from the 30 shortlisted projects, nine were selected by a panel of sector leaders, including UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili.
In the category of Healing for People, the four finalists were CleanScan /Chameleon Welcome Back (Canada/USA), Outpost Healthy Destinations (Canada), SeeTrue (Israel) and Smart Occupancy (Spain). In Healing for Prosperity, the two finalists were MyStay (Czech Republic) and WAAM (Poland). The three finalists in Healing for Destinations were Airside (United States of America), Beautiful destinations (United States of America) and iBonus COVID19 Digital Prevention System (Hong Kong, China).
Tourism faces the biggest challenge of a generation. But, as this event shows, tourism can deliver solutions for all.
Mr Pololikashvili said: “Tourism faces the biggest challenge of a generation. But, as this event shows, tourism can deliver solutions for all. We now have an opportunity to rethink tourism and do things better. Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and big data will all have a part to play in our joint response to COVID-19, and in building resilience for the future. As such, I thank all those who took part in the Healing Solutions initiative and look forward to the winning ideas being scaled up to make a real difference in the challenging times ahead.”
The Challenge enjoyed strong support, both within and outside of the tourism sector. Addressing the finalists during the virtual event hosted by UNWTO were Dr. Gaudenz Silberschmidt, Director, Health and Multilateral Partnerships (WHO), and Hannah R. Messerli, Senior Specialist, Trade, Investment and Competitiveness at the World Bank Group.
This event was made possible thanks to the support of the city of Madrid, UNWTO’s home base and the capital of one of the worst-hit of all European countries.
Secretary-General Pololikashvili extended his gratitude to Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida for providing the ‘La Nave’ space from which to host the Challenge and for agreeing to run pilot implementations of the winning Healing Solutions. “Your support generates trust, and trust is the new distinctive asset of sustainable tourism development and our overall recovery”, Mr Pololikashvili concluded.
A full list of the shortlisted start-ups can be found on the Healing Solutions for Tourism Challenge webpage.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a 22% fall in international tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2020, the latest data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) shows. According to the United Nations specialized agency, the crisis could lead to an annual decline of between 60% and 80% when compared with 2019 figures. This places millions of livelihoods at risk and threatens to roll back progress made in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “The world is facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Tourism has been hit hard, with millions of jobs at risk in one of the most labour-intensive sectors of the economy.
Tourism has been hit hard, with millions of jobs at risk in one of the most labour-intensive sectors of the economy
Available data reported by destinations point to a 22% decline in arrivals in the first three months of the year, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Arrivals in March dropped sharply by 57% following the start of a lockdown in many countries, as well as the widespread introduction of travel restrictions and the closure of airports and national borders. This translates into a loss of 67 million international arrivals and about US$80 billion in receipts (exports from tourism).
Although Asia and the Pacific shows the highest impact in relative and absolute terms (-33 million arrivals), the impact in Europe, though lower in percentage, is quite high in volume (-22 million).
Source: UNWTOProspects for the year have been downgraded several times since the outbreak and uncertainty continues to dominate. Current scenarios point to possible declines in arrivals of 58% to 78% for the year. These depend on the speed of containment and the duration of travel restrictions and shutdown of borders. The following scenarios for 2020 are based on three possible dates for the gradual opening up of international borders.
* Actual data through March includes estimates for countries which have not yet reported data.
Source: UNWTO
Note: The scenarios presented in this graph are not forecasts. They represent alternative monthly change in arrivals based on the gradual opening of national borders and lifting of travel restrictions on different dates, still subject to high uncertainty.
Under these scenarios, the impact of the loss of demand in international travel could translate into:
This is by far the worst crisis that international tourism has faced since records began (1950). The impact will be felt to varying degrees in the different global regions and at overlapping times, with Asia and the Pacific expected to rebound first.
Domestic demand is expected to recover faster than international demand according to the UNWTO Panel of Experts survey. The majority expects to see signs of recovery by the final quarter of 2020 but mostly in 2021. Based on previous crises, leisure travel is expected to recover quicker, particularly travel for visiting friends and relatives, than business travel.
The estimates regarding the recovery of international travel is more positive in Africa and the Middle East with most experts foreseeing recovery still in 2020. Experts in the Americas are the least optimistic and least likely to believe in recovery in 2020, while in Europe and Asia the outlook is mixed, with half of the experts expecting to see recovery within this year.
