Resilience through Digitalization: Building Better Tourism Policies

March 31, April 1 & 6, 2022

Background

The travel and tourism industry has been one of the most affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. The emerging challenges of COVID-19 variants have prolonged the recovery of the sector from the crisis, causing travel and tourism businesses on the edge of permanent closing. According to theWorld Travel and Tourism Council(WTTC), the contribution of the industry to GDP fell by US$4.5 trillion year-over-year in 2020, and the sector lost more than 62 million jobs. Asia-Pacific was particularly affected with its contribution to GDP falling by 53.7%. The region was the largest for the sector’s employment in 2020, accounting for 55% of global travel and tourism jobs.[1] Such destination governments from countries heavily relying on the industry have witnessed an adverse impact on more than jobs such as livelihoods, community development, and local and national economies.[2] To accelerate the recovery and build the resilience of the global travel and tourism industry, there is a pressing need to adopt new strategies and innovative solutions.[3] 

The pandemic brought special attention to the importance of digitalization and the use of big data as an effective tool for government-imposed measures. National and regional governments try to better understand the pandemic’s impact on tourists’ movement patterns to mitigate infection rates and prevent potential health threats.[4] Also, tourism businesses seek for technical solutions to develop better operation models and smarter products and services to build resilience in crisis management.[5] Ms Liz Ortiguera, CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association(PATA) also stated, “At the local, regional, and global levels, travel organisations recognise the importance of integrating technologyto access robust, transparent, and actionable data for better coordination. Also, as destinations reopen and international travel resumes, a host of new questions are emerging about how to build sustainability within the travel and tourism industry while minimising risks.”[6]

However, significant challenges remain in digital transformation in the travel and tourism industry. The pandemic has signified the digital divide between technological developments and public policies. For instance, working with technology and big data requires specialized skills as well as strong legal and institutional frameworks, which are lacking in many developing economies. The skills gap cannot be resolved in the short term and requires financial investment in capacity building that it is hard for many destinations to afford. [7]

Furthermore, global leaders and many international organizations such as WHO, ICAO and OECD emphasized the significance of creating a system of global policies and legal frameworks for the safety and sustainability of tourism management.[8] In September 2021, the G7 Health and Transport Ministers reaffirmed the importance of a safe and sustainable reopening of international travel with the agreement on measures to align international travel strategies with global standards. This was further endorsed by the G20 Leaders at the Rome Summit in October 2021. [9]

“Taking into consideration national public health policies, we acknowledge the relevance of shared standards to ensure seamless travel, including testing requirements and results, vaccination certificates and interoperability and mutual recognition of digital applications, while continuing to protect public health and ensuring privacy and data protection”

-         Leaders Declaration, G20 Heads of State & Government Summit, October 2021

In this regard, the workshop aims to combine the collective mind of experts and stakeholders to provide guidance on how to expedite recovery and build resiliency with technology and big data. It also explores the important role of the government in integrating digitalization to develop appropriate policy actions and identifies key policy considerations to foster digital technology use by the tourism and travel industry.[10] 

Event Objectives

For the capacity building, this event will:

·        Offer a venue for knowledge sharing and motivate participants to discuss their status and issues of leveraging digitalization and big data to accelerate the recovery and build resilience in the travel and tourism industry.

·        Provide an opportunity for policymakers and experts to share and exchange their good practices.

Learning Objectives

After this event, participants will be able to:

·     Raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities to adopt digital solutions and the need for regional and local cooperation for the recovery of local, national and regional tourism economies.

·     Have guidance to policy-making on their policy attempts in formulation and implementation towards exploring the potential of digitalization and use of big data in crisis management

Target Audience

This online event is open to government officials and personnel from non-profit, civil and private sectors, including focal points for:

·      travel and tourism policy, tourism businesses, smart tourism, digital transformation in tourism, destination management 

This event is also open to representatives from academia, research entities, development agencies and think tanks actively engaged in coordinating and implementing policies in the context of the recovery of the travel and tourism sector.

Program Agenda

·        Event type: Online workshop

·        Date: 31 March, 1 & 6 April 2022

·        Organizer: UNITAR CIFAL Jeju / Jeju International Training Center

·        Certificate:             UNITAR CIFAL Jeju / JITC will issue a certificate upon the completing of training

·        Program Details:

*The programme is subject to change.*The programme is subject to change.

Application and deadline

· Submit the google format at https://forms.gle/ew2VVLANRJB9PNbt8 by March 24, 2022. 

· Kindly note that only selected applicants will be notified individually.

Certificate

· A Certificate of Completion will be awarded to those who have completed two online sessions and fulfilled the required tasks for the program – e.g. group discussion and presentation on case studies

· The participants will be awarded a certificate jointly issued by UNITAR and UNITAR CIFAL Jeju.

Organizer

UNITAR CIFAL Jeju/Jeju International Training Center

http://cifaljeju.org/

Inquiry 

Sung-eun Ann, Program Officer 

seann.jitc@gmail.com