WTM London puts spotlight on sustainability, investments and growth for first day

Sustainability, tourism investments and the rise of the Chinese market were in the spotlight during the first day of World Travel Market London. Investment and education took centre stage during the Ministers’ Summit, which was taking place for the 19th time.
Delegates heard how public-private partnerships can be effective mechanisms to grow tourism, with ministers from destinations as varied as the Philippines, Kenya and Ecuador sharing how they are using fiscal incentives to attract investment.
Educating the younger generation about the benefits of a career in tourism was also framed as a vital part of the industry’s future success.
Representatives from Greece, Portugal and France offered slightly different approaches to education, but all agreed about the need to have a workforce skilled in the specific needs of tourism – as well as the role that the industry should play in promoting tourism as a fulfilling and rewarding career path. The Sustainability Conference at WTM London began with a session entitled ‘Other Worlds Are Possible: Reimagining Tourism’s Purpose’. Independent climate action expert Jeremy Smith spoke about reframing tourism’s role within the climate emergency. He suggested travel companies should think not only in terms of reducing emissions but also how they could enable tourists to see and understand the real-world impacts on communities. Climate literacy “will come through what we feel, not what we read”, he contested.
Smith, who launched the Travel Declares a Climate Emergency network in 2019, talked of his own experience charting wildfires near his home in France, which, like flooding, was becoming “less and less exceptional.”
He praised companies which were enabling, for instance, hotels to be staffed by refugees and walking tours to be conducted by people who have experienced homelessness. “Tourism shows you other worlds are possible,” he commented.
Among tour operators, he highlighted Blue Yonder, which has enabled rice farmers in Kerala, India, to earn a second income as kayak guides on the Backwaters. The same farmers have also been trained in emergency rescue for flooding scenarios.
Smith said the travel industry tended to look at the climate emergency as only “a technical challenge …that could be fixed like rewiring a plug”.