BUSINESS NEWS


UN Tourism’s


Sandra Carvao says: ‘We still need to consolidate the learnings from the pandemic’


‘Climate change is major threat to travel resilience’


UN Tourism expert warns growth can’t be taken for granted. Ian Taylor reports


The travel industry demonstrated its resilience in bouncing back from the pandemic, but continuing growth can’t be taken for granted in the face of climate change. That is according to Sandra


Carvao, UN Tourism director for market intelligence, policies and competitiveness, who warned: “After the economic environment and increasing travel costs, extreme weather events are the most important factor affecting the environment for travel.” Speaking at an industry


Resilience and Innovation Summit 48 13 JUNE 2024


in Sarajevo last week, Carvao noted: “International travel reached 89% of its pre-pandemic level in 2023 and 96% of its pre-pandemic value. Results this year show we’re 20% above the 2023 level and UN Tourism estimates we’ll end the year 2% above 2019.” She said: “Growing geopolitical


tensions can have an impact on tourism. But climate change leading to extreme weather events is one of the biggest challenges we face.” Carvao argued the lessons of


Covid-19 need to be retained, saying: “We still need to consolidate the


learnings from the pandemic. The sector bounced back, but we must not forget. We must have the systems in place to react another time – because there will be another time.” Jamaica tourism minister


Edmund Bartlett told the summit: “We are perhaps the most resilient of industries, but also the most vulnerable to shocks. We need to plan for disruption, mitigate and manage when it happens, and recover quickly.”


Continued on page 46 travelweekly.co.uk


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