Saudi Arabia to host WTTC 22nd Global Summit

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced that its 22nd Global Summit will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the end of 2022. The summit in Riyadh will see industry leaders gathering with key government representatives to drive support for the sector’s ongoing recovery. The event in Saudi Arabia will follow the next highly anticipated Global Summit, which is taking place in Manila, Philippines, from 14-16 March 2022. That event was originally due to take place in October 2021 but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking from the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Julia Simpson (pictured), WTTC president and CEO, said: “Since the very beginning, when the pandemic brought international travel to an almost complete standstill, Saudi Arabia has shown its total commitment to our sector, ensuring it has remained at the forefront of the global agenda. It has been instrumental in leading the recovery of a sector which is critical to economies, jobs and livelihoods around the world. “For that we are grateful and want to recognise their incredible efforts by bringing the global travel and tourism sector to the Kingdom next year.” His Excellency Al Khateeb, Minister for Tourism for Saudi Arabia, said: “I welcome the decision to choose Saudi Arabia as the host country for the next WTTC Global Summit in 2022. “This is a critical forum for the private sector and government to come together to redesign tourism for the future, and it is fantastic to hold this event in the Kingdom. This is recognition of Saudi leadership to help the global tourism sector recover, and importantly, become more sustainable. I look forward to welcoming all WTTC members next year.” To coincide with this announcement, latest research from WTTC shows the Middle Eastern Travel and Tourism sector is set to grow by 27.1% this year ahead of Europe and Latin America. The research also shows that if governments prioritise Travel and Tourism, jobs in the sector could reach 6.6m in 2022, approaching pre-pandemic levels. And, responding to the UK Government’s decision on 28 October, to remove all remaining countries from its red list requiring hotel quarantining for incoming travellers, Julia Simpson, said: “WTTC is pleased the [UK] government has finally listened to voices from across the Travel and Tourism sector by removing all countries from the discredited red list, allowing everyone fully-vaccinated to travel freely – and safely. “This will provide a much-needed boost for the Travel and Tourism sector. While the red list is being kept in reserve, we hope the government won’t at any time re-introduce costly and unnecessary hotel quarantines and shift its risk assessment from entire countries to individuals.”