Hilton Worldwide and Marriott International have joined forces to urge governments to adopt “smart” visa policies that stimulate global travel.
Addressing global business and travel industry leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos today (23 January 2013), the two companies, which operate more than 7,000 hotels in 90 countries, said that governments should be “more strategic” in terms of visa policies, due to the economic benefits of travel and tourism.
“Smart” visa policies refer to new solutions that promote travel, maximise the use of technology and remove inefficient processes, while also boosting cross-border data sharing. Christopher J. Nassetta, president & CEO of Hilton Worldwide, called international travel “low-hanging fruit that can create significant economic growth and employment”.
His counterpart at Marriott International, Arne Sorenson, agreed, saying that countries should consider the economic benefits of tourism. “Smart governments are thinking about international travel and tourism as trade, and they are doing everything they can to remove barriers and be more strategic in addressing visas and other access issues that discourage people from traveling and doing business,” Sorenson said. “We call on the world leaders here at Davos to be visionary about a future world of interconnected markets where moving travellers more easily will allow more people to see the world and result in two billion world travellers in the next decade.”
The call from the hotel leaders follows a similar message sent out by the UNWTO last year. In tandem with the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the UNWTO used the T20 Ministers’ Meeting in Mexico in May 2012 to urge governments to ease visa regulations. A joint study by the UNWTO and WTTC found that G20 economies could boost their international tourist figures by an additional 122 million visitors, generate an extra US$206 billion in receipts and create more than five million additional jobs by 2015, simply by improving visa processes.
And it appears the world’s governments have taken note. The US has expanded its visa waiver programme to Taiwan, while China now offers three-day visa-free travel to Beijing. Russia is encouraging visa-free travel to and from the European Union and the ASEAN nations are moving to a common regional visa.
“We applaud those governments who are taking visionary approaches to facilitating travel, enhancing economies and providing employment opportunities worldwide. We view the private sector and Forum leaders as powerful partners to ensure progress continues so that global visa and entry policies are augmenting and enhancing the free-flow of goods, services, and people,” Nassetta and Sorenson said in a joint statement.
