At the seminar, tourism authorities from the PA and the EU discussed the exit strategies of the containment measures and the public-private work they are developing for the gradual resumption of tourism activity in the old continent.
July 14th, 2020. Today, the seminar “European Union-Pacific Alliance Dialogues: On the road to reactivation of the post-COVID tourism industry” took place, with the participation of the Under-secretaries and government representatives of Tourism of the four countries of the Pacific Alliance -Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru-, as well as representatives of the European Commission, the EU Foreign Service and tourism sector authorities from Austria, Spain, Finland and Portugal.
At the opening, which was led by the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations of Chile (Subrei), Rodrigo Yáñez, in his capacity as pro tempore presidency of the PA, he stressed that every effort must be made to quickly and appropriately design a revival for this sector, which is so important for the Pacific Alliance and the European Union. The director for the Americas at the European External Action Service, Javier Niño Perez, said that the European Union is working on strategies to reactivate tourism based on the establishment of rules that give peace of mind and security. Both authorities highlighted concern about the drop in growth in the sector, where the estimated losses of the tourism industry this year for Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru are forecast to reach US$15.3 billion.
Subsequently, the representative of the European Commission (DG GROW – Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs), Florencia Cuervo, presented the general EU policy framework in support of the post-pandemic tourism sector.
In turn, the Undersecretaries of Tourism of the Pacific Alliance countries presented the regional and local panorama of the sector’s impact due to the pandemic.
The Seminar then focused its development on the measures that had been adopted in Austria, Spain and Portugal. Experts explained the economic measures established by those countries, as well as biosecurity protocols, digital capacity building and the importance of developing tourism with sustainability.
It should be noted that this activity takes place within the framework of the Joint Declaration signed by the European Union and the Pacific Alliance. A second seminar is expected to be held during the second semester in order to share experiences in the development and implementation of measures to reactivate the sector.