Agenda Dialogues: What's the future of global travel and tourism?
A panel of experts including Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and SpiceJet's Ajay Singh discuss the future of travel and tourism. Image: REUTERS/Issei Kato
- Our latest Agenda Dialogues explored the challenges of building a just and equitable society post-COVID.
- It had a specific focus on the future of the travel and tourism industry.
- There was clear agreement that there's pent-up demand for leisure travel - but it will only be met where restrictions allow it.
How can we build a just and equitable society, and how can we rebuild the travel and tourism sector in a new post-COVID economy?
These were the key questions discussed by leaders from around the globe in our latest Agenda Dialogues session. You can watch the full session here.
Here's are some of their key quotes.
How is the World Economic Forum helping to identify new technologies to fight COVID-19?
On inequality and the post-pandemic recovery
We are committed to building back better - not only for India but for the world.
”The pandemic has really overwhelmed an unprepared world. It’s left an untold cost in human lives, livelihoods, economic growth.
”India is poised to become the pharmacy of the world [...] That is our commitment that we grow strong, grow back better, not only for India but also for the rest of the world.
”Today, if we do not stop the virus, all human lives are at risk.
”On travel and tourism
We are very hopeful for tourism. People want to go, people want to travel, but this is dependent on the destinations being open.
”As soon as we’re allowed to fly more, you’ll find that Indian carriers will bounce back really quickly.
”I believe there’s massive pent up demand [for travel], but it’s hemmed in by restrictions in any given country.
”What we have is a mosaic of different policies, procedures, government regulations [...] That nobody's really able to decipher - and that's really discouraging travel.
”People definitely miss travelling for pleasure, but business-wise I don’t see travel coming back as quickly as we expect.
”The shortest distance between us and getting back to normal is getting the world vaccinated.
”We are proud to contribute to our government's massive effort to save its own people.
”I think as the stakeholders of travel and tourism, we failed miserably last year to bring all these policies together to create a global platform, so people can understand what is expected of them, so they can travel.
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