The boss of Tui believes the impact of Donald Trump’s election in the US will likely have less of on an impact on the travel industry than Brexit.
Speaking to TTG after the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) Ministers’ Summit, Tui Group chief executive Fritz Joussen said he believed the US peoples’ vote should be “respected”.
“All over the place nationalistic tendencies come out and that does not necessarily fit well with travel.
“The US is one of the oldest democracies in the world and he [Trump] will work within that framework of democracy.
“Brexit potentially has a larger impact because lots of revenue is in pounds and whenever that goes up and down it directly influences business.”
Joussen opened Wednesday’s summit, where a new international training function by UNWTO was announced.
The specially developed online tourism safety and security academy has been designed to raise awareness of security for UNWTO member states and the tourism sector at large.
UNWTO hopes to train one million people in 2017, after launching the programmes at the beginning of next year.
The courses have been developed by “leading world safety and security professionals”.
The course will be available everywhere, at all times and on any device.
The programmes are designed to transform the way tourists and the sector communicate with the police, fire, medical and rescue services in various crisis situations.
Other services will train teams and advise on implementation.
UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai said at the end of the summit: “For those that may be concerned, let me assure you the world is a better place.
“We should be hopeful in spite of everything, and the events of this morning - I say that personally.”