UNWTO Sec-Gen calls for visa facilitation and air transport liberalisation
The UNWTO Secretary-General, Mr Taleb Rifai, has called for increased visa facilitation and the liberalisation of air transport.
Advertisement
Addressing the Royal Aeronautical Society at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) headquarters, Mr Rifai, who was the first speaker from outside the aviation industry to give the Assad Kotaite Lecture, highlighted the interdependent relationship between air transport and tourism.
His address was on the theme; “Tourism and Aviation: Building Common Policies for Sustainable Growth”.
The UNWTO secretary-general reiterated the need to position both sectors collectively to help stimulate the growth of the overall economy and create opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship.
“If we are to achieve the forecast rise in international tourist arrivals from 1 billion in 2012 to 1.8 billion in 2030, with all the concomitant economic and social benefits, we must work as one,” Mr Rifai said.
“Increased co-ordination among airlines, tourism destinations and airport authorities at national level, and the joint work of UNWTO and ICAO at the global level, will help position travel and tourism as a strategic sector with air transport at its core,” he added.
Mr Rifai emphasized market liberalisation as a key factor for the development of civil aviation and tourism, citing World Trade Organisation (WTO) estimates that show that replacing the most restrictive bilateral air agreements by most liberal ones may increase traffic by over 75 per cent.
On visa facilitation, Mr Rifai stressed that restrictive visa issuance policies and complicated entry formalities are still stifling travel and tourism growth, particularly from emerging economies, which are some of the fastest-growing source markets for tourism.
Supporting visa facilitation will help stimulate the economy and generate employment - as many as 5.1 million additional jobs in the G-20 economies by 2015, and 2.6 million new jobs in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies by 2016, according to recent research by UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
Other key issues addressed were tourist/consumer protection, intelligent taxation and the fight against climate change, issues he maintained were areas of common concern for both the tourism and aviation sectors to achieve a significant impact in promoting sustainable growth and development.