The World Travel & Tourism Council ,which represents big business in the Travel & Tourism industry, joined with ETC to encourage governments to embrace visa facilitation, proactively.
Helen Marano, Vice-President Government and Industry Affairs, WTTC, said that “visa facilitation is central to stimulating economic growth and job creation through tourism in Europe and worldwide”.
WTTC has studied the potential impact of visa reform in the G20 economies and assessed the potential to create 3.1 million additional direct tourism-related jobs and 5.1 million jobs overall.
The G20 could see growth in tourist arrivals of 16% and an increase in international tourism receipts of 21% in just three years. This represents a gain of 112 million additional international tourists, spending US$206 billion.
Marano also called for collaboration between the public and private sectors to achieve the potential benefits. “It is of significant importance that our sector speaks with one voice to ensure messaging and policy are aligned when we are working towards smoother visa processes for the purpose of business and leisure travel,” she said.
Mark Henry concluded, “The prize on offer is significant, up to 84 million new visitor arrivals across wider Europe by year 2020. If we are interested in growing our share of global tourism and capturing the substantial economic benefits, there is only one correct path to follow – that of increased openness. The introduction of the Schengen Area in 1995 undoubtedly contributed significantly to boosting travel within Europe and we need to see it extended and reformed to make it much easier than it is currently for leisure tourists and other legitimate travellers from long-haul markets to come here and to come back again.”