The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) announced that in just three months, 100 destinations are now using its ‘Safe Travels’ stamp, with the Philippines becoming the official 100th destination. WTTC made history earlier this year when it launched the world’s first ever global safety and hygiene stamp, and today the Safe Travels stamp reached its first major milestone.
The stamp, which was developed in order to help restore confidence in travelers and work to revive an ailing Travel & Tourism sector, is now also being used by many more major holiday destinations such as the Maldives, Bermuda, Namibia, Uganda and Montenegro.
The specially designed stamp enables travelers to recognize destinations around the world which have adopted health and hygiene global standardized protocols – so they can experience ‘Safe Travels’. This landmark move by WTTC also received the backing of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
The launch of global protocols to recover the Travel & Tourism sector have been embraced by over 200 CEO’s including some of the world’s major tourism groups.
Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said: “We are delighted to see our innovative initiative is proving such a great success. The 100 destinations which use the stamp are working together to help rebuild consumer confidence worldwide. We welcome the Philippines as our 100th destination, as well as other popular destinations around the globe such as Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia and Kenya.”
Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Philippine Secretary of Department of Tourism said: “The Philippine Department of Tourism is delighted to be awarded the WTTC Safe Travels stamp. I wish to thank WTTC for recognizing our efforts of putting in place policies concerning health, safety and sanitation protocols, which we have aligned with WTTC’s standards.”
“The Safe Travels stamp will further encourage our stakeholders to adhere to health and safety standards and will help us rebuild travelers’ confidence to restart tourism.”
The widespread adoption of the stamp demonstrates that WTTC and all its Members from around the world have the safety and hygiene of travelers as their top priority. The protocols follow guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as considering best practices from WTTC’s members.
Evidence from WTTC’s Crisis Readiness report, which looked at 90 different types of crises in the last 20 years, highlights the importance of public-private cooperation and the implementation of standardized protocols.
According to WTTC’s 2020 Economic Impact Report, during 2019, Travel & Tourism was responsible for one in 10 jobs (330 million total), making a 10.3% contribution to global GDP and generating one in four of all new jobs.
