Allowing visa-free travel, reducing airfares and improving connectivity could unlock the incredible potential of tourism in Africa.

O’Hara, who will take over the position later this month, has been a member of WTTC’s Executive Committee since 2019, and Vice Chair since 2021.

The partnership aims to elevate tourism on both global and national agendas while expanding skills, innovation, entrepreneurship, investment, and the transition toward a more sustainable and resilient Travel & Tourism sector.

Madden-Greig highlighted the important work of CHTA’s environmental arm, the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST)

Some African countries rely heavily on the foreign exchange that tourists bring in and the money they spend in domestic markets. To lose that for a few years was a heavy, heavy blow.

Over the past week, holidaymakers in Spain, Italy and Greece have fled the beach in search of shade and air conditioning as governments have issued health warnings advising people to stay out of the sun.

The MOU was signed by WTTC President & CEO Julia Simpson and UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, besides representatives of the public and private sectors.

In Turkey, tourism has become an indispensable sector for the economy because it generates much-needed foreign currency, Kaan Sahinalp, the Turkish representative of German travel giant TUI.

Morocco’s tourism industry might have also received a boost from the country’s notable performances at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

In 2022, visitors to the special administrative region (SAR), the lone Chinese territory where gaming is permitted, spent $15.58 billion, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).