If anyone is familiar with what is currently going on in European Tourism with COVID-19, it’s Tom Jenkins, CEO of ETOA, the European Tour Operators Association. ETOA is the trade association for tour operators and suppliers in European destinations from global brands to local independent businesses.
Tom recently spoke about the crisis going on in European Tourism during a World Tourism Network (WTN) podcast. Said Juergen Thomas Steinmetz, founder of WTN, “Tom has been a leader in the COVID-19 crisis from the very beginning. In fact, we call him Mr. European Tourism as he is always on top of what is going on in tourism in Europe.”
The situation developing in the UK right now is that the country is pretty much closed off from the rest of the world due to a new strain of coronavirus. Steinmetz introduced Jenkins to talk about this emerging state of affairs and tourism in Europe in general. In his introduction, Steinmetz said Tom is a WTN Tourism Hero of which the association presently has 16. The Hall of International Tourism Heroes recognizes those that have shown extraordinary leadership, innovation, actions, and goes the extra step.
Tom began by saying that nobody feels less heroic than he does, particularly at the moment in a locked down London. “The UK has suddenly found itself to be like Typhoid Mary,” he said, adding, “I think, frankly, this is going to pass. I think the initial blockage on all outgoing freight for example with France is going to be cleared in the next 24-48 hours.
“It’s going to be very difficult for people in the UK to be traveling overseas in the next few weeks, whilst people come to terms with this new strain of the virus, which is concerning. I don’t want to downplay the alarming nature of it.
“I imagine that within 2-3 weeks, things will start to get back to normal if you can refer to the current crisis as normality.”
Listen to Tom’s views on the future of European tourism and COVID-19 as well as the state of emergency declared by ETOA on climate change in this podcast.
World Tourism Network is a new initiative that emerged out of a rebuilding.travel discussion that started back in March of this year when COVID-19 became a reality. Today, WTN is launching during the month of December with an official start commencing on January 1, 2021. Already there are 12 local chapters around the world so far as well as discussion groups about various subjects.
In this first launch month, there have been and will continue to be sessions providing an opportunity to get to know World Tourism Network members and participate in and listen to interesting travel and tourism discussions. Steinmetz stated that these events can be viewed and listened to here.
To register for upcoming sessions, go to: https://wtn.travel/expo/
About World Tourism Network (WTN)
World Tourism Network (WTN) is the long-overdue voice of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the travel and tourism industry around the world. By uniting efforts, WTN brings to the forefront the needs and aspirations of these businesses and their stakeholders. The network provides a voice for SMEs at major tourism meetings along with essential networking for its members. Currently, WTN has over 1,000 members in 124 countries around the world. WTN’s goal is to help SMEs recover after COVID-19.
Want to become a member of World Tourism Network? Click on www.wtn.travel/register
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WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- The situation developing in the UK right now is that the country is pretty much closed off from the rest of the world due to a new strain of coronavirus.
- “It’s going to be very difficult for people in the UK to be traveling overseas in the next few weeks, whilst people come to terms with this new strain of the virus, which is concerning.
- In this first launch month, there have been and will continue to be sessions providing an opportunity to get to know World Tourism Network members and participate in and listen to interesting travel and tourism discussions.
