Business thrives when govt, industry work together

Dallas – Business thrives when government and industry work together, Penny Pritzker, US Secretary of Commerce, said at the opening of the global summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) taking place in Dallas this week.

“Travel builds bridges and strengthen economies and it can work hand in hand with national security. The US is open for business and open for visitors,” she explained.

In her view, the US’ national travel and tourism strategy is working exactly because of this kind of comprehensive approach between the public and private sector.

“The travel and tourism industry helped us to measure progress and to speed up the arrivals process. The industry has shown us how we can use technology while maintaining the highest security standards,” she said.

“Tourism is impacted if tourists do not feel safe and the industry cannot afford to have incidents like terror attacks stop progress in these public/private partnerships."

Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International, said potential terror attacks are perhaps the greatest threat to international travel due to the powerful human emotions they create to just stay put.

“Some political leaders in the world talk about closing borders. Yet, about 10% of GDP in the world is created by travel. We in the industry must, therefore, find a way to lead along with governments,” said Sorenson.

“This can be done through sharing information in order to identify those travellers who are not a threat and role out the red carpet for them, while preventing those who are a threat from travelling.”

* Fin24 is a guest of the WTTC at its global summit.