WTTC's Tourism for Tomorrow and Freedom to Travel

Travel & Tourism is growing faster than any other sector. WTTC's sector already accounts for 9.5 per cent of global GDP and 266 million jobs.  Over the next 10 years Travel & Tourism’s global impact on GDP is set to rise by 4 per cent per annum. ‘Tourism for Tomorrow’ addresses the challenges posed by such growth. It is WTTC’s vision for tourism that responds to the demands of increasing numbers of consumers in the face of shrinking natural resources; it reflects the needs of employees and destination communities; it looks beyond competitive boundaries to strike new alliances; and it recognises the need to start tackling these challenges now. It’s a vision that understands the need to balance people, planet and profit. 
WTTC has a huge responsibility for ensuring that the growth of our sector is managed responsibly. WTTC's Tourism for Tomorrow Position paper calls on businesses in Travel & Tourism to be accountable, show leadership, invest in sustainable solutions, and work together to drive real change. WTTC members are spearheading environmental programmes such as the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative and the Human Capital Initiative.  WTTC's Members’ global reach and level of seniority means that they are in a unique position to drive these greener practices into core business models. WTTC strongly advocates to international institutions and governments that their policies and regulatory frameworks are supportive of the sustainable growth of their sector. And WTTC continue to promote the very best in sustainable tourism through their annual Tourism for Tomorrow Awards – one of the highest accolades in the sector worldwide. 

‘Freedom to Travel’ means ensuring that people have the right to cross international borders safely and efficiently for tourism purposes. It means smarter visa processes, more visa waiver agreements and trusted traveller programmes. Of course, we recognise that there is a need for countries to maintain border security. But there needs to be a better balance between sovereign security concerns and the needs of international leisure and business travellers to pass through immigration with the minimum of hassle. We have recently seen unprecedented changes and improvements in visa facilitation around the world. More and more countries are taking deliberate steps to ease visa restrictions in order to increase visitor numbers and improve competitiveness. Yet despite these positive moves there are still too many nationalities who find it too complex and too difficult to cross borders as international tourists.