Today, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) jointly released a set of recommendations for customer-facing businesses seeking to reopen safely amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The 'Quick Restart Guide for Employers' has been published as a result of a virtual meeting between ICC Secretary General, John W.H. Denton AO, and WTTC President & CEO, Gloria Guevara.
Among the topics they discussed was their shared certainty that the Travel and Tourism sector will need to implement new practices-such as the WTTC Safe Travels protocols-conduct careful planning and strengthen knowledge-sharing among industry organizations to ensure that tourism-related businesses are able to operate safely in the COVID-19 era.
The guide was developed in partnership with other industry leaders and is intended to complement, not replace, existing COVID-19-related guidance issued by public health organizations, and global and local authorities.
Addressing details of the challenges being faced by travel-related businesses, the Quick Restart Guide for Employers outlines specific steps that employers can take to ensure operational readiness, prepare staff, limit the risk of viral exposure within the workplace, deliver safe experiences to customers, and rebuild trust and confidence among customers.
"With over 150 million travel and tourism jobs lost since the outbreak of COVID-19, more needs to be done to address the challenges faced by these businesses-many of which are SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with limited resources," Denton remarked. "It's critical for ICC and our global network to engage with travel and tourism businesses as we work together to reinstate consumer confidence, protect employees and safely re-open our economies."
"Travel and Tourism is a highly interconnected sector. The devastating impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on businesses across the global Travel and Tourism sector is also causing extraordinary damage outside of our sector, impacting millions of jobs and livelihoods around the world," said, Gloria Guevara, WTTC President and CEO. "Our guide provides recommendations for businesses around the world, be they large enterprises or SME's, to ensure employees are able to return to their place of work safely and are in line with WTTC's Safe Travels protocols."
During their meeting, Denton and Guevara also discussed a potential collaboration on the creation of digital platforms intended to help reopen borders and economies to international travel. Denton also offered an update on ICC's AOKpass project and offered ICC's support to promote the WTTC Safe Travels Stamp, the world's first-ever global safety and hygiene certification.
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