The leaders of the Travel & Tourism industry attending the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 12th Global Summit in Tokyo, Japan today actively committed to work together to have governments improve visa-entry procedures and systems in order to stimulate travel demand and create jobs.

By taking this action, the leaders from different sectors of the industry and regions agreed to speak with one voice to governments around the world compelling them to find better ways to balance the needs of sovereign security and the capacity of tourism to generate economic growth.

Led by a core group on stage and supported by senior members of the industry from within the audience, the WTTC Global Summit identified restrictive visa policies as a critical impediment to the growth of Travel & Tourism around the world.

Travel & Tourism brings enormous benefits to communities and economies around the globe. It is a key contributor to economic growth, social development with aviation as the enabler for connectivity and access to markets. The Travel &Tourism industry today represents as much as 9% of global GDP and employs 255 million people worldwide.

As such, encouraging governments to take steps to improve visa procedures as an effective means to increase the flow of travellers and thus wealth was identified as a priority focus for the newly-formed Travel Association Coalition; a collaboration between global tourism bodies to co-ordinate messaging and activities across the different tourism sectors.

Complicated, lengthy and often expensive visa processes are common across the world, with frequent vast differences in requirements for procedures and documentation. The industry leaders and the Tourism Ministers recognised how this brings constraints to prospective travellers.

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