The countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) agreed this Friday to adopt measures for “safe, accessible and inclusive” tourism that promotes gender equality to revitalize the sector and thus contribute to the recovery of their economies after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The measures were made official in a joint declaration signed today after the meeting of APEC tourism ministers, which took place this week in Bangkok to launch “generative tourism” through regional cooperation, he said at a press conference. Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn,
The ministers urged the promotion of “safe, accessible and inclusive” tourism as well as gender equality policies, either “guaranteeing and promoting the participation and leadership” of women or allowing their businesses to have “access to the market”. and equitable and sustained links”.
In this sense, they stressed that “women have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19”, so “it is vital that the recovery of the tourism sector be gender sensitive”.
Regarding the inclusive nature, one of the main points was to ensure the accessibility of tourist destinations to people with physical limitations due to age or other reasons, which can open a market of 435 million people in the Asia-Pacific region.
“This can give our tourism industries an immense opportunity to develop and grow,” says the document.
The countries pointed out that the “top priority” of the APEC 2022 agenda is to join efforts to collectively combat the “current challenges” plaguing the region, such as the impacts of COVID-19 and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, such as rising fuel and food prices.
“Significant new uncertainties and challenges have increased the need to build on our cooperation and advance work on sustainable tourism in order to achieve our vision of an open, vibrant, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040.”underlines the document.
“Views were also expressed that peace and stability are essential to promoting economic cooperation, allowing the flow of goods, investments and people”remarks the statement.
Throughout the week, nearly 200 delegates and ministers defined the collaboration guidelines to “accelerate the revitalization of tourism in the post-Covid-19 era”, as well as strategies to promote the recovery of the economies of the countries of the region. , heavily dependent on tourism and which has been hit hard by the health emergency.
In 2019, before the pandemic, tourism accounted for about 11% of all jobs in the Asia-Pacific region, which translates into 162 million jobs. However, the COVID crisis caused that number to drop to 131 million positions in 2020 and 138.7 million in 2021.
According to APEC projections, the region’s joint GDP should expand this year by 2.5%, below the 3.2% previously forecast.
In addition to Thailand, APEC is made up of Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, South Korea, Chile, China, the United States, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
