Photo: Prof Martin Barth, Gloria Guevara Manzo & Reto Wittwer
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and World Tourism Forum Lucerne (WTFL) have signed a Common Agenda, which commits both organisations to ensuring the Travel & Tourism sector attracts and retains talent to support the 100 million jobs which are forecast to be created by the sector over the next ten years.
The Common Agenda will include a wide-ranging academic collaboration on the changing workforce to support the industry’s understanding of how business models, technologies, skill gaps and labour conditions will develop in the coming years. Once this is understood, WTTC and WTFL can better address the requirements of Travel & Tourism and the recruitment requirements which are necessary to ensure the long-term growth of the sector.
The President and CEO of WTTC Gloria Guevara Manzo signed on behalf of the organization while Reto Wittwer Chairman of WTFL signed on the forum’s behalf during the recently held WTFL in Lucerne Switzerland.
Speaking to exclusively to #VoyagesAfriq, Mr Reto Wittwer said ‘’ Today was a very important historical moment because we signed a cooperation agreement with Gloria, the CEO of WTTC. I think we do things in a very complementary way; we are bridging the silos. We believe that our initiatives with young talents which we dedicate the last 10 years to will be definitely important as I ask her to bring her to this cooperation between WTTC.’’
He stressed that the two entities are optimistic of achieving greater things together. ‘’As we signed in our joint statement, it’s not one plus one equal two, it is one plus one has to equal at least three, four five or six and there is no limit to it. When you sign a joint agreement that means that each of the party is complementing the other and has to bring something that you are better or that you are emphasizing more or you’ve been long investing in this particular field’’ he added.
Upon signing the Common Agenda, Gloria Guevara Manzo, President & CEO, WTTC said:“Travel & Tourism already provides one in ten of all jobs on the planet and will contribute a further 100 million jobs to the world economy over the next ten years. Last year one in five of all jobs created globally were in the Travel & Tourism sector and it is predicted that 47% of all jobs could be transformed or disappeared through technology. It is vital that we understand the changing nature of work and skills required for the jobs of the future’’.
The WTTC President added that, the Common Agenda comes at an opportune time for WTTC and WTFL to meaningfully engage on the new talent required by the sector and to get ahead of the curve in understanding how workforces are changing and how the travel industry can be at the forefront of this transformative growth.
“We are delighted to collaborate with WTFL to develop the tools that will support the long-term sustainable growth of travel companies and their leaders in the future of work’’ she observed.
