【Record】Ms. Du Yili, an expert of WTCF releases the Report on Recovery and Development of World Tourism amid COVID-19

Ms. Du Yili, an expert of WTCF, released the Report on Recovery and Development of World Tourism amid COVID-19

Du Yili: On behalf of the specialist team of WTCF, I am here to publish the Report on Recovery and Development of World Tourism amid COVID-19.

The first part is about the background. All the background research is to say that the world tourism industry is facing an unprecedented crisis under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In such an unprecedented crisis, the WTCF, as the world's first global international tourism organization with cities as the main body, needs to respond to the needs of its members and cooperate with member cities to overcome the difficulties. The WTCF, in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of North Texas, prepared a report on tourism recovery and development under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research team selected six cities from six countries as the case cities: Barcelona in Spain, Beijing in China, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Casablanca in Morocco, Los Angeles in the United States, and Samarkand in Uzbekistan. We also chose four member organizations: Trip, Disney, Marriott Hotel and Air China. Through these case cities, the tourism strategies and practices in the context of COVID-19 are analyzed. We hope these analyses could provide the member cities with some valuable and common strategies and suggestions, and bring some light to the world tourism which is now in difficulty.

The main body of the report could be divided into three levels: nation, city and industry. Each level is divided into two stages: the first stage is the crisis response and the second is the industry recovery.

Let's start at the national level. National response is the prerequisite and basis for the recovery and revival of the tourism industry. All countries have generally taken active intervention measures, among which two decisions have a decisive impact on the tourism industry: 1. Helping the industry to maintain its operation through emergency and distress-relief measures. 2. Balancing economic recovery and pandemic prevention & control measures. As for the active intervention measures, many of them are universal measures and stimulus packages. Tourism enterprises and the tourism industry have been greatly helped by them, such as the $2 trillion economic stimulus package of US, China's tax cuts and exemptions, and a variety of comprehensive measures. Our airlines, airports, travel agencies and restaurants have less pressure have received some help. At the same time, countries have plenty of flexibility of their own, such as Argentina, which has set up an emergency aid program to help travel companies pay their employees. China has refunded quality deposits for travel agencies. Spain has cut taxes for airlines. Governments around the world are struggling to cope with the disaster. But when it comes to balancing economic development with pandemic prevention & control, it's safe to say that all countries are facing an unprecedented test. All countries are also trying to strike a balance, such as the United States, where cases spiked after the economy restarted in May and then the government postponed the restart plan. Singapore has already relaxed controls but then it had to reimpose restrictions due to the second wave of the pandemic. China reopened in May, but imposed local restrictions on traffic and movement because of the outbreak in Beijing and other places in June. It is in this back-and-forth process that governments recognize that they need to be more prepared to lift travel restrictions and meet the challenges of restarting tourism. The delay in the restart may increase the loss of the tourism industry, but haste makes waste. If restart is carried out too quickly, it will have some profound impact on the long-term development of tourism and the economy.

In the second stage of industrial recovery, most countries have adopted four-aspect measures, which also have some commonalities. The first one is about recovery plan, for example, the recovery of each country is gradual and differentiated. The outbreak is uncertain, so the tourism recovery must also be a gradual process, and the restart must be time-specific, regional, and differentiated. All of our case countries act in stages. Some of the countries, like Argentina, Morocco, the United States, and China have some sectors of the economy restarted in the first phase, such as the restaurant industry in the United States, and other travel activities restarted later. The recovery of tourism in China is divided into different regions and periods. Intra-regional tourism was opened in May and inter-provincial tourism in mid-July. International tourism is still recovering and waiting. Based on this trend, the research team made a suggestion that the recovery of tourism industry after the outbreak is regular, which should be from restaurants to hotels and then to aviation. Therefore, it is suggested that governments should consider this trend and give targeted support to different industries.

The second aspect is to ensure travel safety. This report recommends that while formulating the new security standards and procedures, governments shall conduct more cooperation with the private sector, companies, and DMO (Destination Management Organizations). It also suggests that DMO and tourism industry associations shall actively construct a new security mechanism and establish the new security trust, so the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) launched a new global agreement about world travel security. The National Tour Association of America has issued technical guidelines for travel under the new normal. Argentina, Morocco, Spain and other countries all have issued many new tourism security agreements. Spain has issued 17 guidelines and applied the mechanisms they have used to improve tourism quality for more than 20 years to safety measures. By issuing safe travel certificates, Spain ensures that all processes can be implemented.

The third aspect is that all countries are actively stimulating the demand for travel. Various cities are doing a lot of work, such as "100 Reasons to Travel to Finland" and Morocco's "Goodbye Morocco Initiative". In particular, in terms of international travel, many countries with similar pandemic management systems are trying to restart the international tourism in this point-to-point way by opening the travel "corridor" or "Travel Bubble" (OECD, 2020).

The fourth aspect is about the reform of tourism industry. Reflecting on the reform of tourism industry, the research group summarizes a lot of experience, in which three conclusions must be said. 1. Far-sighted governments at all levels are taking this opportunity to address the long-term structural problems of tourism, such as overcrowding and environmental disruption. 2. Promoting tourism innovation. All countries hope that when tourism recovers, it will not be a simple recovery, but progress and improvement, so they encourage new business models, digitalization, interconnection, and encourage middle and small-sized enterprises to innovate. 3. We all hope for and pay special attention to the stability of international exchanges and contacts. From personal experience, one can realize that without social interaction, without safety and health, without personal safety, there will be no tourism. Therefore, we hope to strengthen international tourism cooperation, enhance regional tourism exchanges, stimulate tourism consumption and promote tourism reform. Tourism is an important force to promote national economic recovery and also to oppose anti-globalization.

The second level is the city. As mentioned before, cities are the nodes and the key to the tourism industry's response and recovery. Cities have done three things in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. One of the most important problems, which is also the one that gives maximum pressure to the city, is unemployment. For tourism cities, tourism truly accounts for much of the GDP (18% for Barcelona, 15% for Casablanca, 11.5% for Beijing, and 5% for Los Angeles). It’s exactly because of the high proportion of our tourism industry that the pressure of unemployment and layoff is more serious. Therefore, city authorities and DMO actively coordinate various policies and look for opportunities to help tourism enterprises out of the crisis. For example, they coordinate the reception capacity of enterprises to meet the medical needs and relieve the pressure of enterprises. At the same time, in an interview of the research group, city professional departments agree that to cope with such a major crisis and disaster, we must rely on the government, rely on society, and rely on the inter-departmental cooperation. Like the establishment of Economic Coordination Response Center of Barcelona and eight special working groups of Beijing. In these collaboration mechanisms, DMO shall, 1) speak on behalf of the tourism enterprises, 2) coordinate all kinds of resources, 3) win support from the government, and 4) unite the industry for joint self-help.

In the second stage of industry recovery, the city has also done work in four aspects. In the meantime, we believe that there are many measures which are the easiest to implement at the city level, like technological innovation and consumption stimulation. The report shows that the fiscal policies to support case cities have been very specific in stimulating consumption. Los Angeles, for example, gives direct subsidies to consumers, while Barcelona and Casablanca give subsidies to enterprises according to their size and employment scale. Beijing gives restaurants and hotels a direct subsidy of 30 percent of the amount spent, which goes directly to suppliers' accounts.

The third level is our tourism industry. Ultimately, enterprises are the driving force and engine of economic recovery. This time, in response to the crisis and industrial recovery, the tourism industry has been tested, including major tourism enterprises and enterprises from all over the world. We will not describe the five aspects of the response to the crisis in detail. I would like to say in three sentences what we have found about the tourism business.

First of all, sharing the loss with the tourists. When a large number of refunds swept in, many of our enterprises unprecedentedly adjusted their own sales policy and provided free refund services for tourists. Trip, Marriott and a lot of other companies are all doing this.

Second, working with employees to pull them through. In Alaska Airlines, Marriott International and Trip, their management voluntarily cut their salaries or voluntarily waived them, sharing the burden of hardship.

Third, shouldering social responsibilities, especially in the hotel industry. Marriott has provided US $10 million worth of hotel rooms to contribute to the fight against the pandemic. The hotel industry in Madrid provided 9,000 beds, Carnival used their cruise ships as temporary hospitals, and Trip provided millions of medical masks for various countries. These show the resilience and responsibility of tourism enterprises, which increased the confidence of our tourism professionals and established a positive image for the tourism industry.

Now we are entering the second phase in which the pandemic and the market restart go hand in hand. In this phase, we have only one industry-wide goal: to rebuild the market. The research group observed that many aspects of the market reconstruction initiative have begun to improve and progress. For example, in the recovery program, and in the restart program, all enterprises shall firmly grasp the changes in the travel mode and behavior after the pandemic, adjust their products, prices and operation mode. Second, we shall promote substantial progress in the operation mode and comprehensive innovation.

The examples given in the report can be summarized by five sentences.

1. Based on mobile terminals, our payment system and operation system are more convenient and much better.

2. Self-service terminals, robots and intelligent terminals operate normally in the service scene.

3. Seamless connection of online and offline tourism services can speed up the connection.

4. Three-dimensional media provide tourists with more choices.

5. Tourism big data provides reference for governments at all levels to enhance their service capacity.

The third measure is to improve the safety standards. After the pandemic, all safety standards are enhanced, and these enhanced safety measures may be retained and become the routine, so as to offer safer and more comfortable tourism.

The fourth sentence. Among these various changes, there is only one constant. The case enterprises have a common understanding that their pursuit is unchanged. They argue that it is the pursuit of tourism companies to provide more added value to the restarted tourism market, and recognize that the more uncertain the economy, the more consumers need to pursue certain value. As a result, all enterprises hope and believe that, the top strategy for the market is to provide higher value to tourists.

The last one is unity. This time, the industry impresses us by helping the partners with the recovery. It is the time to huddle together for warmth. The leading role of large enterprises in this process is very critical and very important. Trip has provided billions of dollars to our SME partners for small loans and lease renewals to ensure that our business chain does not break down. Airbnb offered $250 million to share the damage with its tenants. Expedia has set aside $275 million to work with travel destinations and businesses upstream and downstream to help revive the market. At present, the global tourism industry gathers the power of large enterprises and tourist destinations and they jointly promote and revitalize our tourism market.

Finally, I'd like to conclude with two sentences.

First of all, tourism companies are able to overcome the pandemic and build a community of common market interests with their market partners. This is a sign that the tourism industry is growing mature in its fight against the pandemic.

Second, in the face of unprecedented difficulties, the world tourism industry should forge a consensus among countries, cities, destination governments, enterprises and tourists and establish a new tourism cooperation mechanism for sharing responsibilities and fruits. This is the sure path for the world tourism industry to make a comeback. This is the most important point of this report. Thank you very much!