A BTN exclusive with H.E. Gloria Guevara and the work of the Sustainable Travel Global Council
28.08.2023 - 14:37
/ breakingtravelnews.com
/ Obama
/ Gloria Guevara
Prior to joining the Saudi Tourism Ministry as a senior advisor , Gloria led the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) as President and CEO, having joined in 2017. WTTC represents the global travel & tourism private sector worldwide, a sector that generates 10% of GDP and accounts for 300 million jobs globally. Gloria was the global voice for the sector and, under her leadership, WTTC led the industry’s agenda during the most difficult crisis in history, the Covid19 pandemic. WTTC successfully unified the sector and implemented measures to reduce the impact such as the creation of the “Safe Travels” global protocols and a stamp that were granted to more than 400 destinations around the world. WTTC also pursued active engagement with over 150 governments to share best practices and public policies to support workers and the private sector, including millions of SMEs, in addition to providing guidelines from lessons learned to help the strong recovery.
While at WTTC, Gloria also achieved important milestones, including defining the climate and environmental agenda for WTTC and its members in partnership with UNFCC, UNEP and HSPH. She successfully hosted important events such as the first “global environment and climate action forum”, “Regional leaders’ forums” and WTTC global summits, where she welcomed former Presidents Obama, Calderon, Santos, Aznar and heads of state such as Sanchez, Macri and several other world leaders to support the sector. Before her departure as CEO, WTTC hosted the first global international event during the pandemic, the WTTC Global Summit in Cancun Mexico, demonstrating that international travel could be reopened in a safe way.
There is no doubt that the need to address the climate emergency is intensifying. This means sustainability has become a vital element for each business which can no longer be ignored. The recent record-breaking temperatures across North America and Europe this month are another reminder that climate change is upon us now and an issue that needs to be addressed urgently, and now!
My questions to H.E. Gloria Guevara are designed to give you our readers a better insight as to what is actually being undertaken by business across the globe and the hopes we have for its success in tackling this urgent crisis.
BTN. How do we get businesses to take sustainability more seriously if clearly just seeing, and reading about the damage that is being done isn’t enough?
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GG: Businesses need to be part of the solution and that is why the Sustainable Travel Global Council (STGC) has been formed - to ensure all of the key players in the Travel sector, including large businesses and MSME’s around the world are thoroughly engaged. Without their active