tourism (pic pixabay)

By Frank Martin

The announcement by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) about restoring of that industry to 70% of what it was before the pandemic give a healthy dose of optimism in order to keep the right way to the plenty restauration.

Tourist experts agree in considering Covid-19 as the cause of a severe fall in this sector worldwide.

But they also observe that sector cannot ignore the fact that it lacks yet of a strong innovative program to restauration.

The length of the pandemic, some estimate, cast doubt on the forecasts of the recovery not only due to resurgences of the epidemic due to modalities that emerged late, but also due to world events that still press against it.

The UNWTO estimate leaves universal satisfaction without erasing certain doubts about the future of the branch that already existed before the pandemic and persist after the confinements have been left behind.

“We need to rethink tourism, as a provider of jobs, an economic pillar and… as a solution to the climate emergency,” UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said in this regard.

The official thus reiterated something already warned by the UN organization itself.  That is that “innovative and urgent” measures are still needed to keep one of the most extensive -and pleasant- planetary industrial branches on the rise.

The current of optimism has brought more proposals linked to a concept that is spreading: “Rethinking tourism”. That is, perhaps, eliminating problems that are still seen as pending issues by the industry.

There is no doubt that world tourism needs a gigantic union of sectors to advance to  a process of peace, common sense and sustainability.

Changes are proposed that have not been applied yet and that are a clear change of concepts that would transform competition into cooperation..

The Caribbean, and also many other destinations in Latin America and Europe, apply or study more policies of the so-called resilient tourism, through the strengthening of the capacities of all the parties involved.

The objectives of such innovative programs do not hide that they seek a more social tourism sector that is economically, culturally and environmentally sustainable and inclusive.

The recovery is an excellent encouragement because it has been constant since the very beginning of 2022 despite the difficulty of this year.

One of the recent UNWTO World Tourism Barometers estimated that international tourist arrivals nearly tripled from January to July 2022, or by 172%. compared to the same period in 2021.

Despite the enormous complexity of the year that is almost over, the period has been agile and beneficial for one of the industries most damaged by the pandemic.

In other words advances until now it has been really hopeful.