G20 china_web

Trade and investment
1.1BN
tourists travelled internationally in 2015
Taleb
Rifai
39%
of the global population could travel
without a traditional visa in 2015
Secretary General
United Nations World
Tourism Organization
Taleb Rifai has been Secretary
General of the United Nations
World Tourism Organization
since 2010 and was re-electedto
serve a second four-year term
starting in 2014. He has served as
Assistant Director General of the
International Labour Organization
and held several ministerial
positions in the Government
of Jordan, including Minister
of Planning and International
Cooperation, Minister of
Information, and Minister of
Tourism and Antiquity. Previously,
he was Director General of the
Investment Promotion Corporation
of Jordan.
@UNWTO
www.unwto.org
→ however, it is significantly affected by
crises and shocks that threaten the economy
and social structures of affected destinations.
It is essential that all stakeholders
prioritise and promote measures to ensure
safe and secure travel. To prevent and
recover from possible crises, travel and
tourism must be integrated into national
emergency structures and procedures.
Currently, this integration often happens
only after a major incident has taken
place, because tourism’s role is still
underestimated in many regional and global
safety and security agendas.
The world faces a global challenge
that can only be addressed through
common efforts.
We have before us an important
opportunity to build effective coordination,
information sharing and communication
mechanisms between the tourism and
security sectors. Countries, destinations,
tourism and security administrations,
businesses and academic institutions must
all work more closely together, building
on each other’s strengths and providing
collective support to targeted countries’
recovery efforts.
Crises are often magnified or
exacerbated by crises of perception,
so a priority for the sector must be the
creation of crisis management plans and
protocols, including crisis communications
strategies that encompass quick response,
transparency and credibility, so that the
impact of real events is swiftly minimised
rather than magnified.
We should never forget that enhancing
security in the tourism sector can and
should go hand in hand with making travel
more seamless and friendly to consumers
and hosts alike. Security challenges cannot
deter us from advancing travel facilitation.
On the contrary, they can prompt us to
build upon the recent advances around the
world in increasing the ease of travel, in
terms of visa facilitation and connectivity.
We all need to be vigilant and overcome
the emerging trend of building new
barriers to travel. In 2015, 39 per cent of the
world’s population could travel without
having to obtain a traditional visa prior to
departure, compared to only 23 per cent
in 2008. We cannot backpedal on this.
Economic and national security is not a
zero sum game.
Intergration and coordination
With this in mind I call upon the world’s
leading economies to continue advancing
the integration and coordination between
tourism and security as a part of the
global response to the safety and security
challenge that the world faces.
The World Tourism Organization stands
ready to continue supporting countries
in this endeavour. We will be leading the
creation of a task force to make progress in
global tourism and security discussions,
aimed at ultimately creating a safety and
security charter for the tourism sector.
We must never allow the threats we face
to stop us from travelling and experiencing
the beauty of our planet and its people. G20
178 G20 China: The Hangzhou Summit • September 2016 G7G20.com