The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) this week hosted a virtual meeting with His Excellency, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism, and leaders from across the Tourism industry. During the meeting, WTTC shared data, revealing the potential global economic impact of COVID-19 on Travel & Tourism.
The roundtable was chaired by WTTC President and CEO, Gloria Guevara, and H.E. Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism and Chairperson of this year’s G20 Tourism Track.
As one of the world’s most labour-intensive sectors, supporting 330 million jobs worldwide and one in four new jobs created on the planet in 2019, Tourism must be at the heart of global response and recovery efforts.
Latest research from WTTC shows the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a loss of up to USD 2.1 trillion in Travel & Tourism GDP to the world economy.
H.E. Al-Khateeb stressed his commitment to working proactively with WTTC in coordinating with the private sector and shaping global crisis response measures to ensure Travel & Tourism is at the forefront of recovery efforts.
H.E. Ahmed Al Khateeb, said: “The challenge ahead lies in two phases, first in weathering the impact of COVID-19 on people’s lives and businesses, and second in rebuilding from it.”