Press

Travel CEO Forum Calls for Unified Voice on Climate Change

8 October 2007

The World Travel CEO Forum urged the tourism industry to speak with a unified voice when dealing with mounting pressure from environmentalists.

On Monday, at The Sage Gateshead on the banks of NewcastleGateshead's Quayside in North East England, experts called for a more balanced debate on how governments, the travelling public and pressure groups address the tourism sector's contribution both to economic growth and global warming.

"The immediate risk of damage to our industry from climate change is that tourism is demonised for its carbon footprint and taxed or regulated in ways that have material unintended and detrimental consequences" said Christopher Rodriguez, CEO of tourism body, VisitBritain.

Over 80 experts and travel industry figures gathered to drive a spirited enquiry into the shape and direction of the global travel industry – climate change was top of the forum's agenda. "The tourism industry has been vilified, yet we are really committed to solving the problems of climate change," said David Soskin, CEO of Cheapflights.co.uk. "More taxation could lead to less flying and profitability for airlines and therefore less money to invest in environmentally-friendly aircraft. More tax will not stop affluent travellers flying but will squarely affect the disadvantaged."

During the World Travel CEO Forum topics discussed included the future of tourism, next generation destinations and the challenge of the new media age. Panelists discussed how taxation on aviation was a blunt instrument in dealing with climate change and that it had wider economic implications that could be detrimental to UK's regional economies, such as North East England.

"People are concerned about the emissions when they fly for a couple of hours, but there is little talk of the pollution we emit when spending two weeks say in a hotel," Jan Telensky, founder of Slovakian eco-resort AquaCity.

Other top tourism executives speaking included Rohit Talwar of Fast Future, Dorothee Guthrie Vogel, analyst at Jupiter Research, and Roy Graff who heads up China Contact. Margaret Fay, chairman of UK regional development agency, One North East opened the one-day event.

"The World Travel CEO Forum was created to give individuals within the travel industry an opportunity to voice their concerns and tackle problems," says event organiser, Manon Han. "It is crucial that the travel industry deals head on with climate issues we face. We are part of the problem, but we can also be part of the solution. Passing the responsibility and blame to other industries is not part of the equation."

The main sponsor was development agency North East England – other sponsors include Amadeus and Breaking Travel News. International media participation boosted the CEO Forum's profile. BBC World has already signed up as the official media partner and will broadcast the event to over 280 million homes in over 200 countries. Other participating media included Breaking Travel News, 7 Plus and ABTA Magazine and Northeast Press.

The networking event culminated in a forum dinner, which took place at Alnwick Gardens. The World Travel CEO Forum was held one day before the regional World Travel Europe & Green Awards Ceremony.

Notes to Editors

The World Travel CEO Forum was initiated in 2007 by the World Travel Awards in a bid to bring together thought leaders, investors and tycoons to discuss how the travel industry is shaping our future.

The World Travel Awards were conceived in 1993 to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in the world's travel and tourism industry. Now in their fourteenth year, travel professionals and discerning travelers have come to regard the World Travel Awards as the very best endorsement that a travel product could hope to receive. With thousands of votes cast by travel professionals from 167,000 travel agencies, tour & transport companies and tourism organizations in over 160 countries across the globe, winning a World Travel Award has become one of the highest accolades a travel product or organization can achieve.

World Travel Awards are especially coveted as, uniquely, the votes are cast globally by fellow professionals. With trophies awarded in over 1,000 different categories, the World Travel Awards are undoubtedly the world's most comprehensive awards celebration. Attended by top executives of winning companies, the events are highly regarded and well-established as a forum that brings together all areas of travel and tourism in recognition of their achievements.

WTA's sponsors include Turks & Caicos Islands, North East England, Amadeus, Nakheel, Emirates Palace, Beaches, Fortune Cookie, Etihad Airways, The Leela Palace Kempinski Bangalore, VLM Direct and Virtually-the-World.

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