We have a full programme of Responsible Tourism events today with some of the most high profile panels on The Challenge of Building Sustainable Hotels with the International Tourism Partnership at 12:30 and we are looking at Safety & Security with ministers from Jamaica, South Africa and Sri Lanka at 13:45
New this year – The Responsible Tourism Cafe (EU580) is THE pace to meet and at 17:00 there is a reception to celebrate the International Tourism Partnership’s Youth Career Initiative. Join us for drinks and canapés to learn more about this life-changing programme and celebrate the impact that it’s had on the lives of over 5,000 young people around the world.
The latest RTNews is a WTM, London Special
Monday 4th November
10:15– 11:45 Tourism a Strategy for Development? [debate]
ME & Africa Inspiration Zone AF285 WTM
How effective is tourism as a development strategy? Which forms of tourism can create inclusive growth contributing to growing a diversified local economy, creating local employment and raising the standards of living of local people in a sustainable way? Can tourism bring local economic benefit and conserve the environment? What kinds of tourism can be used by local people for their economic development? This panel presents a wide range of ways of using tourism for development.
Moderator: Harold Goodwin WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor
Paul Rogers, Co-Founder & Director, Planet Happiness
Jay Rosen, Head of Finance & Investments for The Red Sea Development Company.
Krissy Roe Head of Values, Responsible Travel
Cillian Murphy CEO CillianMurphyConsulting
Hon. Dr Memunatu B. Pratt, Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Government of Sierra Leone
Adama Bah Chair, Institute of Travel and Tourism of Gambia
Glynn O’Leary CEO Transfrontier Parks Destination
Moses Ngobeni, Director: Tourism Planning and Development, Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism
11:45 – 12:30 Using technology to manage accommodation & tourism responsibly in Barcelona [solution]
ME & Africa Inspiration Zone AF285 WTM
The travel industry has been growing for decades and popular tourist destinations must manage the negative effects of attracting a large number of visitors. Barcelona is innovating with the use of information and communication technologies in order to address such negative effects. One of the main problems of leading destinations is the steady growth of illegal hosting. In Barcelona, a spider web has been created as a fundamental tool to fight against it. The designed processes and operations implemented in the city will be explained during this session.
Barcelona is also suffering the effects of overcrowding. Eurecat, the Technological Centre of Catalonia, is using Big Data and the Internet of Things to analyse them. Until now, these technologies have been used for understanding visitor mobility patterns at different scales, itineraries and flows around the city but the actual challenge in Barcelona is evolving from descriptive towards prescriptive analytics, to help make things happen. To overcome the overcrowding effects, the city of Barcelona is going one step further and it is currently designing, through Eurecat, a Flows Management Research Program in real-time to help to manage the influx of visitors at different places. This should reduce the tourist pressure at some sites at specific times bringing to tourists’ better experiences and helping to balance the social impact of visitors in the city.
Moderator: Martin Brackenbury, Managing Partner, Brackenbury & Partners
Joan Borras Nogués, Head of ICT and Tourism Unit, Department of Tourism Innovation – Eurecat
Eva Mur, Director of Inspection Services, Barcelona City Council
Eva Vidal Inspector, Inspection Services, Barcelona City Council
12:30-13:30 The Challenge of Building Sustainable Hotels [debate]
Europe Inspiration Zone EU80 WTM
The major hotel brands no longer own many hotels, they operate hotels using a variety of agreements: managed, franchised, or licensed. The operation of hotels has been increasingly separated from ownership. This creates a major challenge for sustainability. A developer builds a hotel for an owner, or for sale to an owner, who then looks for an operator. There is often little incentive for the developer to build a sustainable hotel, they are not going to operate it and neither is the person they are building the hotel on behalf of. With operation separated from ownership, there is little incentive to build sustainable hotels. Retrofitting is expensive and of course, hotels being built now will still be operating in 2050, by which time climate change will have created a much more difficult operating environment.
The ITP is launching new research, undertaken in collaboration with the IFC, on the case for building sustainable hotels. link
Moderator: Harold Goodwin WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor
Allan Agerholm, Chief Hospitality Officer, CEO of BC Hospitality Group
Dimitris Manikis, President and Managing Director EMEA, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
Madhu Rajesh Director – International Tourism Partnership at Business in the Community
Eric Ricaurte Founder Greenview
13:45-14:45 Taking Responsibility for Safety & Security
Europe Inspiration Zone EU80 WTM
For countries and destinations, reputational risks can be high when incidents happen whether they are caused by natural disasters, health scares, crime, conflicts, or actions by terrorists, so the protection of tourists, investments and livelihoods is essential. What can be done to minimise the risks and create greater resilience? What measures should be in place in destinations to provide reassurance to visitors?
No absolute guarantees can be given to visitors but balanced information should be available to them to make up their own minds about where to travel. What have visitors and those countries receiving visitors the right to expect from travel advisories?
Moderator: Martin Brackenbury, Managing Partner, Brackenbury & Partners
German Porras, former Secretary of Tourism For Spain, currently Secretary-General Mesa Del Turismo
John Amaratunga, Minister of Tourism Development, Wildlife & Christian Religious Affairs, Sri Lanka
Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica
Amos Fish Mahlalela Deputy Minister of the Department of Tourism of the Republic of South Africa
Nikki White Director of Destinations and Sustainability at ABTA
14:45-15:30 Tourism for All – the business case for inclusive tourism
UK & International Inspiration Zone EU2080 WTM
At previous WTMs we have organised a number of panels addressing the challenge of accessible travel and accommodation. Few will forget the Campo and Parque dos Sonhos and Jose Fernandes Franco from Brazil talking about zip wires and rafting for quadriplegics in his resort. This year we want to push the agenda further and look at expanding the opportunities for adventurous travel for people with disabilities and to consider what can be done to enable those people with disabilities and low incomes to enjoy a holiday and travel. For more on the issue
Accessible tourism matters for everyone, not just the wealthy
Moderator: Harold Goodwin WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor
Fiona Jarvis Blue Badge Style
Clare Jenkinson Senior Destinations & Sustainability Manager at ABTA podcast
Amar Latif Founder Traveleyes YouTube
15:30-16:15 Transparent Reporting [solutions]
UK & International Inspiration Zone EU2080 WTM
Transparency is a core value for Responsible Tourism. Businesses, destinations and communities determine the issues which need to be addressed. Businesses and destinations decide what they can do to address them. The industry needs to move beyond certification, consumers need to be able to choose hotels which are particularly good on carbon, water or labour conditions, according to their preference, and when the provider fails to deliver on the certificate they need to be able to secure recompense. We need to move to certification plus. Wouldn’t it be amazing if hotels and operators published their operational performance? More on the challenge.
Moderator: Harold Goodwin WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor
Andrea Nicholas MD and Co-Founder of Green Tourism
Ian Corbett, Sustainable Business Manager for TUI UK & Ireland,
Susanne Etti, Environmental Impact Specialist, Intrepid
Anula Galewska Responsible Business Manager, Urban Adventures
16:15 – 17:00 Managing Crowded Sites [solutions]
UK & International Inspiration Zone EU2080 WTM
Last year we looked at the challenges of over-tourism at the destination level. This year our focus is on sites which experience crowding either seasonally or throughout the year. We have invited three site managers to share with you their management objectives, say something about how they emerged, and to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the methods of visitor management that they have used to protect the sites and enhance the visitor experience.
Moderator Caroline Warburton, Visit Scotland
Jordi Rabosso, Park Güell, Director of Licensing and Public Space Department of the District of Gracia, Barcelona City Council
Esther Dobbin Giant’s Causeway, Responsible Tourism Manager at National Trust, Northern Ireland
Cillian Murphy CEO Cillian Murphy Consulting
17:00 Youth Career Initiative (YCI) Celebration
UKI and International Inspiration Zone North Hall, EU 2080 WTM
Join us at a reception for International Tourism Partnership’s youth employment programme, Youth Career Initiative (YCI), to celebrate how the hospitality industry is helping young people to build better lives. YCI is a global programme that works with the hospitality industry to offer young people, particularly those who have faced challenges, the opportunity to gain the skills and experience to take the first steps in their career and the self-belief to reach for greater goals.
Join us for drinks and canapés to learn more about this life-changing programme and celebrate the impact that it’s had on the lives of over 5,000 young people around the world.