15/08/2003

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) today announced that it has developed an Action Plan, together with leading security experts Objective Team, to limit potential damage wrought by terrorism - and ultimately to defeat it.

At a Security Forum, hosted by WTTC Member organization Accor, at the Sofitel St James in London, Jean-Claude Baumgarten, WTTC President said: "The Action Plan will help Travel & Tourism in two main ways; it contains initiatives to counter the threat of terrorism and its implementation will put minds at ease. The resilience of the travelling public should not be underestimated. Experience shows that once an immediate threat has lifted, people's enthusiasm to travel rapidly returns."

The Executive Summary outlines the key principles and recommendations set out in the WTTC Security Action Plan, which is available on the WTTC web site www.wttc.org.

WTTC advocates a twin-track approach to the adoption and application of this action plan:

Promoting, to all sectors of the Travel & Tourism industry and to governments, a coherent strategy of high-level messages and associated operating measures, designed to alleviate vulnerability.
Convincing the general public and industry employees of the reality that Travel & Tourism must co-exist with the risk of terrorism - provided that risk is mitigated.
The Plan stresses that there is no room for commercial rivalry. Security is a strictly non-competitive issue and requires stakeholders to work together, sharing crucial information freely with each other.

Four cornerstones of WTTC's Security Action Plan are:

1. Co-ordinate all policy, actions and communications

This will help to engender a spirit of co-operation, as well as integrating security into all policy and operational areas.

In addition, a new approach to Travel Advisories must be developed as a matter of urgency. The present situation in which 'blanket' threat levels are applied to whole regions of the globe is not only harmful to the Travel & Tourism industry but also highly counter-productive for the longer-term campaign to project a positive image in affected areas - and may encourage terrorists to believe their actions are having the impact they desire.

2. Secure operating environments

The Public Sector must be encouraged to provide clear direction on the nature of a potential threat and the security measures required to defeat it. Governments should also ensure that comprehensive security plans are developed to help protect the public and all industry employees.

Security equipment and IT - such as that used for biometric identification - must be deployed and used as part of an integrated plan.

3. Deny terrorists freedom of action

Denying freedom of action to the terrorist is closely linked with the process of addressing the underlying grievances - or perceptions of grievance - within local communities. Governments should attach long-term priority to tackling such issues where Travel & Tourism is a factor.

4. Access and work with the best intelligence

The Travel & Tourism industry must exploit to the full its in-built capacity for the collection of 'human Intelligence'- information from staff and others on the ground.

Industry leaders, especially security managers, must establish close consultative links with government agencies so relevant intelligence can be disseminated in the timeliest manner possible.

Jean-Claude Baumgarten concluded: "The Travel & Tourism industry is uniquely placed to help remove the causes of global terrorism as it is one of the conduits by which prosperity can flow from wealthier to poorer communities, helping to address the imbalance between the "haves" and the "have nots". The more misunderstanding, intolerance and disparity of income can be reduced, the less rationale there will be for the terrorist."

The World Travel & Tourism Council is the forum for global business leaders in Travel & Tourism comprising the presidents, chairs and CEOs of 100 of the world's foremost companies. It is the only body representing the private sector in all parts of the Travel & Tourism industry worldwide.

For more information, including interview opportunities, please contact:

Ufi Ibrahim, 44 207 481 8007, 44 7775 936 385 (m), ufi.ibrahim@wttc.org

To see the full Security Action Plan report please click the links below.