Our association participated in the 114th General Assembly of the OECD Tourism Committee. The Commission is in the process of finalising further recommendations, which could be adopted in 2025. The materials aim to summarise the latest developments and policy priorities that have helped/can help to reach pre-pandemic levels and create the conditions for growth in the longer term. It will highlight measures, plans and strategies that have worked well and the conditions that need to be implemented in order to strike the best balance between the impacts on the environment and local communities.
The role of digitalisation and artificial intelligence in the future of tourism will be highlighted. This will be a priority for the G7, led by Italy, and the G20, led by Brazil. The G7 will work on developing priorities that address the impact of sustainable and inclusive tourism in creating economic prosperity.
Also a separate area will be the role of tourism in climate action and how environmental objectives can and should be integrated into tourism policies and programmes.
An interesting point was that the Slovenian and Slovakian government leaders who spoke compared their data with the rest of the V4 and both found areas where they were ahead of the rest of the V4. According to a comprehensive report by the International Transport Forum (ITF)*, air ticket price changes could rise by 25-30% by 2060. This will be largely due to an increase in the use of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), which is the main driver for decarbonisation.
The EU representative announced the launch of an action on the best use of data on 24 October, which will fund 13 destination management organisations to carry out a pilot project to collect and process data in the most efficient way.
The ILO is preparing a paper on the accurate measurement of labour shortages. This study will also focus on tourism and hospitality. On this issue, the EU has also announced that it will continue to work intensively on the collection of good practices to address the problem.
*The International Transport Forum (ITF) is an intergovernmental organisation within the OECD system.
It is the only global body with a mandate covering all modes of transport. The ITF is the world’s only global organisation of transport ministers.