TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS
and sustainability dominated debate. IAN TAYLOR reports from China
SUSTAINABILITY: TOURISM LEADERS QUESTION INDUSTRY’S APPETITE TO LOOK BEYOND PROFITS
The travel industry should not “hide behind macro generalisations” on sustainability, a former deputy secretary-general of the United Nations told the WTTC Summit. Mark Malloch-Brown, a former UK government
minister and now chairman of FTI Consulting in Europe, said: “Any industry with one billion international consumers is a good thing. “But scratch beneath the surface. Does tourism
work as well at the level of individual localities? “Just 10%-20% of most tourist dollars stay in a destination: those are the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] figures, and there are countries for which it is less. The question is, how do we raise that figure? The industry can’t just hide behind macro generalisations.” Malloch-Brown said: “We need to measure the industry not just on the bottom line but on sustainability. It would be great if a hotel gave you a checklist on how much of what you pay stays in the local economy, explains the local supply chain, tells you the impact on the local economy and on the water supply, and tells you the tax the hotel company is paying.” Costas Christ, outgoing chairman of the WTTC’s
Tourism for Tomorrow Awards judges, told the summit: “We are way past deciding whether sustainable tourism works. There are hundreds of case studies. The question is, are we as an industry willing to take this forward? Are we brave enough in the business world not to privatise profits and socialise environmental impacts?” Addressing the same subject, Julian Caldecott,
director of environmental services firm Creatura, complained of “the rapid unplanned development of destinations”, of “investors cutting corners
TECHNOLOGY: LEADERS URGED TO LEARN CONSTANTLY
Business leaders must embrace constant change in technology or fail, according to Jerry Noonan of chief-executive consultancy Spencer Stuart.
Noonan told the WTTC summit: “The change in strategic importance of technology is a challenge for business leaders. It is a rapidly changing dynamic and there are countless examples of businesses
Malloch-Brown: ‘The industry
can’t just hide behind macro generalisations’
AWARDS: ASILIA AFRICA SCOOPS TOP
ACCOLADE Tui Travel and Cathay Pacific were pipped to the business award in the WTTC’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards by safari lodge company Asilia Africa. The winner was announced
“We need to measure industry not just on profit but on sustainability”
[or] collaborating with organised crime” and “developments that ruin the landscape . . . the suffocation of coral reefs, the crushing of aquifers, the run-off of sewage into local water supplies.” Professor Graham Miller of the University of Surrey
asked: “Should the industry be policing itself?” UN World Tourism Organisation secretary-general
Taleb Rifai responded: “The UNWTO produces a global code of ethics but the UNWTO cannot be the policeman. Actual behaviour is in the hands of governments.” However, Rifai said: “The growth of tourism is not an option, it’s an eventuality.” Mexico tourism minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu
insisted: “If tourism does not foster a better quality of life for the communities involved it is not sustainable.”
that have been slow to change. It requires business leaders to continuously learn.” He said: “The primary purchase pattern that defined the industry has fundamentally changed. This is not a static moment. This is an accelerating set of forces.” Value Retail chief executive
Desiree Bollier said: “Technology is disruptive but if we don’t make it part of our business we will fall behind.” She described it as “mind-boggling” that “Wi-Fi is still part of a paid transaction in hotels”, saying:
“Our first investment was to make all our shopping destinations with free Wi-Fi.” Henrik Kjellberg, president of travel site
Hotwire and chair of Chinese online travel agent eLong, argued: “The consumer is just in a much better position than 15 years ago and who would want to go back?” He added: “At the start [at eLong] we were saying ‘this is what you should think about’. “Now I steal everything
and take it back to the US. In China they are way ahead.”
1 May 2014 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 71
as Fiona Jeffery, chairman of the Just a Drop charity, took over as chairman of the awards judges from outgoing chairman Costas Christ. The Arviat Community Ecotourism initiative of Canada won the community accolade. Costa Navarino of Greece took the destination award. The environment award went to Jetwing Vil Uyana of Sri Lanka. Ecosphere of India won the new innovation award. And the people award went to Lanith, the Laos tourism body. The winners were chosen
from 18 finalists by an international panel of judges following on-site inspections and auditing.
“This is not a
static moment. This is an
accelerating set of forces”
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