Speaking at the WTTC’s Global Summit, Gilda Perez-Alvarado, global chief executive of hotel consultancy JLL, said consumers would make comparisons as they chose where to travel for the first time in two years: “We are all coming up on the world stage at once, all of us are reopening.”

She said sustainability had to consider “the benefits for all”, including local populations. “If you do nothing, it is very costly. This is long-term, this is legacy-building.”

The discussion in Manila heard how the Philippine island of Boracay had to be closed to visitors in 2019 following years of overtourism and inaction over sewage pollution.

Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones, Philippines Tourism Promotions Board chief operating officer, admitted the drastic closure was long overdue. “The president made the difficult decision 30 years late, because previous presidents knew the problem but did not act.”

She said sustainability had to get local support, with locals in Boracay made to understand the importance of building sewerage infrastructure to prevent pollution of the shoreline.

Another panellist, Raki Phillips, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority chief executive, told how the emirate, a relatively new destination, had looked to others for examples of best practice. 

He said he had examined Panama, Slovenia and Costa Rica. All three had become carbon negative and had a sustainability ethos.

Ras Al Khaimah had learnt from these, he said, but admitted: “It’s very difficult in a place like the UAE, where you need air conditioning every day of the year, but there are things that can help, food waste for example.”