Interview: Global tourism industry reviving built on pandemic lessons: Singapore minister

DAVOS, Switzerland, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The global travel and tourism industry has built upon lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic in order to recover, said Singapore's transport minister S. Iswaran while also highlighting China's great potential in relation to the sector.

"The industry has learned to adapt, because we've had economic shocks in the past, we've had pandemic shocks, but this time the pandemic has had a major impact on travel and tourism," Iswaran told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Monday.

He had participated in a panel discussion called "Rethinking and Revitalizing Travel and Tourism" at the ongoing annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. The discussion focused on policies and actions aimed at revitalizing the sector, which, according to the forum, saw over 60 million jobs and trillions of dollars lost in 2020.

Iswaran listed ways the industry can reboot.

"First, we have to recover... And we have to manage that recovery well," he said.

"The second is to reconnect, meaning, establish all the connectivity that we had in the past and make sure it is in full capacity," said Iswaran, adding that technologies need to be used and standards such as health protocols harmonized.

Thirdly, he said: "We must think about the long term. And a key part of that is sustainable growth... and how we manage our carbon emissions."

Iswaran also said that China harbors a great potential for the travel and tourism industry. "China, I think, is a major market, certainly for Asia, but also for the world."

He said the pandemic's impact on China is also felt globally, and he is confident that as recoveries happen across the world, "in due course, China will also fully recover."

Looking forward, the minister said the industry must learn from the pandemic, and be prepared for the future.

"As we recover and go back to something resuming normal travel, we have to make sure we don't forget the lessons from this pandemic: how we work together, the kind of digital platforms that we put in place ... and also make sure our people have the skills to adapt to any new kind of challenges that may come up," he said.