Former British PM Cameron to speak at global tourism summit in Bangkok
FORMER BRITISH prime minister David Cameron has been invited to deliver speeches about key issues that might influence global tourism at the “World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit”, which is scheduled to be held in Bangkok in April.
David Scowsill, president and chief executive officer of the World Travel and Tourism Council, said yesterday that Cameron would discuss some of the key geopolitical issues currently facing the world and how they affect tourism.
The WTTC Global Summit is scheduled to take place on April 26 and 27 under the theme of “transforming our world and how the sector’s contribution to sustainable development can be maximised”.
The event will bring together business leaders in the hotel and hospitality industries from around the world to share their experiences and visions.
The summit will focus on the impact of security threats and climate change on the rights and ability of people to travel; the increased connectivity and infrastructure development in the Asean region; and the innovations that will enable travel and tourism growth in coming decades.
Scowsill said such innovations as a single visa covering an entire region were key to boosting tourism in the future, particularly in Southeast Asia.
He said around 58 per cent of the 1.2 billion people who travel in a given year had to wait and pay for visas. To make this easier, electronic applications or a single-visa policy might be a solution, like the Schengen policy practised in some areas in Europe.
Kobkarn Wattanavarangkul, minister of tourism and sports, said an electronic-visa project overseen by the Foreign Affairs Minister Ministry would be kicked off next year.
She said that hosting the WTTC summit reflected the government’s commitment to growing travel and tourism in a sustainable manner and this country’s role as the sector’s leader in the Asean region.
