Over 450 political and business leaders attended the third edition of the World Travel and Tourism Summit in Portugal from May 15 to 17, at which Seychelles was represented by Mrs Zoritsa Urosevic Nibourette, head of International Relations at STMA.
Following the summit Mrs Nibourette wrote;

"The summit was a privileged forum and a rare opportunity for discussing the main issues concerning world tourism activities. An excellent opportunity to pull together, to move forward and to address issues that are impacting our industry in sharing ideas, thoughts, plans, challenges and solutions. The industry needs, more than ever, a single voice to work with the industry and governments around the world."
"The last 18-20 months have been the most challenging period faced by the travel and tourism industry in modern history. Terrorist atrocities, the prolonged downturn in the global economy, the war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak continue to dampen travel and tourism demand, setting the scene for a more uncertain world in the future. At the same time, these events have acted as a catalyst for more fundamental changes in market behaviour and travel patterns that have been slowly emerging since the 1990s."
"Travel and tourism now needs a new vision and a new strategy, which will involve a new partnership between all stakeholders, to rebuild confidence, strengthen industry efforts, and help turn the challenges into opportunities. The Global Summit provided the platform at which to plan and initiate New Tourism."
"Demographics will be one of the main drivers of travel and tourism demand in the future. The population in the more mature key travel and tourism source countries is ageing rapidly, and there are fewer families and young people."
"In addition, the events of September 11, 2001 were a catalyst for more fundamental changes in lifestyles and customer behaviour. New trends and how will they impact the outlook for travel and tourism in the short to medium term."
"Travel and tourism companies have yet to regain the performance levels achieved in 2000. The impact of terrorism and the weakened global economies have depressed demand, put pressure on cost structures and impacted negatively on performance."

"Mr Francesco Frangialli, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organisation was invited to address the audience presenting a scenario were public and private sectors have to join forces to mitigate risks and develop opportunities for future growth."
"More information can be found on www.globaltraveltourism.com
The WTTC's latest Economic impact study of SARS, in China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam are available at STMA's Headquarters, upon request at the documentation centre."

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