MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Tourism (DOT) will host the 21st World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Summit from April 20-22.

In a first for the Philippines, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said bringing together global tourism stakeholders, including government officials and business leaders, would help revive the country’s tourism industry amid of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will attend the summit along with tourism ministers from Barbados, Japan, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain and Thailand, as well as the founder of the Bye Bye Plastics movement, Melati Wijsen.

The event was scheduled to be held in the Philippines in October 2021, but was moved to 2022 due to global travel restrictions.

“The tourism summit will serve as a light at the end of the tunnel after a long period of darkness for global tourism,” Puyat said, referring to the more than two years of travel restrictions during the pandemic.

The WTTC predicts that travel and tourism in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, will rebound this year to pre-pandemic levels.

The council urged governments in the region to continue “focusing on vaccine and booster deployment to allow fully vaccinated travelers to move freely without the need for testing”.

In September 2020, the WTTC issued the “Safe Travels” stamp in the Philippines, as it recognized the country’s efforts to promote health protocols that meet global standards.