Volume 18. April 2020

Volume 18. April 20201

Dear Affiliate Member,As we are all aware, the tourism sector is currently one ofthe hardest-hit by the outbreak of COVID-19, and the UNWTOexpects that international tourist arrivals will be down by20% to 30% in 2020 when compared with 2019 figures. Thisunprecedented situation requires all of us to be prepared andadapt our response.It is important more than ever to stand by each other and workclosely to tackle the damages imposed to tourism practicesand activities during the recession period and explore how torevitalize the tourism sector during the recovery stage.While monitoring the evolution of the situation and tryingto tackle the damages, we need to start working on definingproposals and measures for the recovery plans. From thisperspective, in UNWTO and particularly in this Department, weconsider that the proposals and ideas of our Affiliate Membersare very valuable, that it is important to take them into accountand bring to the attention of our Member States, through theevaluations and proposals that UNWTO will be defining.With this in mind, we encourage you, as the representativesof the tourism private sector, academia and the civil societyto share with us your eventual proposal for prevention andresponse plans, as well as recovery strategies you haveenvisaged for your organization.We are already working with all our Members to contribute tothis collective response effort and we count on your support,commitment and contributions to deal with this difficultscenario.As always, I am at your disposal and look forward to hearingany comment you may have.Sincerely,Ion Vilcu2

UNWTO AFFILIATE MEMBERS DEPARTMENTMembers of the Working Group on SDGssupport held a meeting to discuss on theprivate sector response to the COVID-19outbreakpractices and activities during the recession period andexplore how the tourism sector will be revitalized duringthe recovery time.The participants agreed on collecting and sharinginformation about the current situation. They alsodiscussed how to identify short term objectives as part ofthe mitigation strategies, establish adaptation strategiesand recovery plans and revitalization strategies.On Friday 13March, The Members of the Working Group onSDGs Support convened an ad hoc meeting on COVID-19.All the achievement of the 2030 Agenda can be sabotagedas the adversity expands. The tourism sector is currentlyone of the most affected by the outbreak of COVID-19,with impacts on both travel supply and demand. This isan emergency and unprecedented situation, for which itis required to be prepared to adapt the response as thesituation develops.In the spirit of responsibility, solidarity and internationalcooperation, the members of the Working Groupexpressed their intention to encouraging businesseseverywhere to take immediate action to support affectedcommunities and businesses in their time of need.As the UNWTO Affiliate Members, they all stated theirreadiness to join forces with the UNWTO for the recoveryplan and be part of the collective solution.The experiences were shared by the representatives fromthe transportation and accommodation sectors as wellas from the academia, civil societies and destinationsmanagement organizations.This adversity is threating lives and livelihoods, peopleand businesses. Tourism workforce is at the frontline.It was well-recognized during the meeting that it isimportant more than ever to stand by each other andwork together to tackle the damages imposed to tourism3

UNWTO AFFILIATE MEMBERS DEPARTMENTThe UNWTO Affiliate Members Department isworking with the private sector to promotebest practices during COVID-19case the situation will require so). Also, some AMs suchas AVANZO or International Congress and ConventionAssociation (ICCA) are developing and offering onlinecourses, webinars and others e-learning contents.Visit Scotland established an emergency committee,the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Committee(STERG). ATREVIA developed a MobileApp (ISSI)for companies that need to communicate with theiremployees without a compoutes, Grupo Xcaret tookmeasures to preserve the workforce and El Corte Inglésaims to protect and help older and more vulnerablepeople through special cash line and priority at time ofpurchase.As part of the UNWTO efforts to cope with the COVID-19outbreak and mitigate its negative impacts on the tourismsector, the Affiliate Members Department is working withthe private sector to identify initiatives and best practicesand bring them to the attention of the Member States.Our Affiliate Members are carrying out various outbreakmitigation measures and promoting valuable mitigationand recovery initiatives. Some are focusing on sharingavailable information with the authorities as well ashelping disseminate information to the wider public,others are taking concrete actions to support the workof the authorities.There are also some very valuable examples of recoverymeasures. LaCaixa Bank is offering cheap funding lines atreduced rates for SMEs; the European Travel Commissionrequests to simplify visa procedures reduce travellertaxation and increase national and local marketing andpromotion budget for the future; AVIAREPS is offeringvirtual events to organizations; and ADARA created theADARA COVID-19 Resource Centre, providing snap shotsof key real time travel data.We have collected the most valuable examples. Amongthe mitigation measures implemented, AMs fromthe accommodation sector, such as the Madrid HotelBusiness Association, are offering hotels infrastructureto help those hospitals which run out of beds, or otherAMs (University of Valencia) are offering medicalresources (masks, disinfectant etc.). A similar initiativewas implemented by IFEMA, which set up a provisionalhospital in the Congress Centre, aimed at hosting 3.000patients (the number could reach more than 5.000 inWe are collecting all the most valuable inputs and wewill disseminate the most updated report through ourinteractive platform AMConnected on a regular basis.4

UNWTO AFFILIATE MEMBERS NEWSHow can food tourism contribute to the SDGand contributing towards biodiversity. Additionally, foodtourism goes hand in hand with the primary sector,involving food producers and manufacturers, who alsoplay a key role.Sustainability is key in the development of any type oftourism, that is why destinations are increasingly on thelookout for resources that can help them move towardsa responsible management of their assets. Food tourism,(seen as the series of activities that enable visitors tounderstand, experience, purchase and taste the localgastronomy) plays an important role in this context.In economic terms, experts also highlighted that foodtourism helps decrease seasonality and hence, favors thecreation of stable jobs. Food tourism is also an integralpart of the economic development of certain rural areassince it helps preserve certain crafts and traditionsclosely linked to gastronomy.This was one of the conclusions reached during theseminar organized by CETT and held at Casa Vicens aspart of the Master’s in Innovative Tourism Managementwhere several experts discussed the role food tourismcan play to meet the 17 goals for sustainable development(SDG).This reality confirms that for the tourism industry to besustainable, it must grow finding a balance between itsenvironmental, economic and social-cultural dimensionsand hence, at the same time, contributing to meet theSDG goals.According to experts, food tourism contributes to thethree pillars for sustainable development: environmental,economic and social-cultural.From an environmental point of view, food tourismemphasizes the value of locally sourced produce,therefore helping the preservation of crops and landscape5

UNWTO AFFILIATE MEMBERS NEWS#ATLF2020 TO HIGHLIGHT INTRA-AFRICATRAVEL IN RWANDAThemed “Shaping the future of intra-Africa traveltogether through a shared vision”, 2020 Africa TourismLeadership Forum & Awards will be held at the KigaliConvention Centre, Rwanda from 13 to 15 July 2020. Visit:www.tourismleadershipforum.africa to register, enterAfrica Tourism Leaders awards and Youth Innovatorsnow. Registration and entries are open.Over the past few years, Africa Tourism LeadershipForum has become one of the continent’s leading maindriver behind the call-to-action for an increase on intraAfrica travel, modernising visa policies, and improved airaccess for the benefit of ‘Destination Africa’. This year’sForum offers platforms such as Africa Travel and TourismCEOs/Executives Dialogue, MICE Masterclass, and AfricaYouth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Competition aswell as speed marketing sessions and mini-exhibitions.For more information on sponsorship and partnership,please contact rejoice@africatourismpartners.com or 27 (0)81 303 7030/ 27 11 318 1741ATLF is a tourism Thought Leadership, multi-stakeholder,multi-disciplinary, and collaborative platform. ElciaGrandcourt, UNWTO Director for Africa, says: “Since theinception, ATLF and Awards have been actively supportingtourism development especially in marketing, capacitybuilding, MICE as well as Destination Africa’s brandmanagement.” Grandcourt adds: “Furthermore AfricaTourism Partners has shown dedication to engage thepublic and private sector to discuss and position Tourismas a key driver for development in Africa at nationaland international level. We, therefore, urge all industrystakeholders across Africa to join the Kigali Forum, andto submit their entries for the 2020 ATLF Awards.”From: Kwakye Donkor kwakyed@gmail.com Subject: Logo - Please add the Africa MICE Academy as reflected on thebrochure.Date: 13 December 2017 at 6:32:26 PM GMTTo: divan@the-final-few.com, Philip Hanekom philip@the-final-few.com 6

UNWTO AFFILIATE MEMBERS NEWSTURITEC 2020: 13th ICT and TourismInternational Conferencebusiness professionals and institutions in the Spanishtourism industry since 1999. TURITEC provides a uniqueforum for actors from academia, businesses, governmentsand other organizations in order to exchange, share andactively challenge cutting-edge research and businesscase studies on the application of information andcommunication technologies to travel and for tourism.The role of technology in society is increasingly becomingessential worldwide. People, companies and institutionsuse technological innovations on a day-to-day basis to takeadvantage of the benefits they bring.There are endless reasons why information andcommunication technology (ICT) are important in tourism.Currently, ICTs are changing the dynamics of supply,market capture, logistics, etc. Here, comes into play otherrelated topics such as Big Data, e-commerce system,online reputation, social networks, artificial intelligence,along with others.The conference will consist of a wide number ofsessions in which scientific and technical informationand management experience in tourism and ICTs will bepresented. Additionally, TURITEC will have a number ofkeynote speeches from relevant personalities from bothdomains.For details, please visit turitec.comThese themes will be addressed at the XIII ICT and TourismInternational Conference, which will be held in Malaga onthe 22 and 23 October 2020.For enquiries, please contact: turitec2020@uma.esThis edition will be especially relevant because Malaga hasbeen awarded as the European Capital of Smart Tourismin 2020.This conference has been a framework of understandingand collaboration between university researchers in ICT,7