Members of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) recently met with Brazilian Minister of Tourism, Luiz Barretto and President of Embratur, Jeanine Pires, along with high-level representatives of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina and other key business leaders, to unveil the theme of the Ninth Global Travel & Tourism Summit: 'Real Partnerships - Energising Economies'. The summit will be held on May 15-16, 2009 in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina's state capital.
Speaking at the launch event, Jean-Claude Baumgarten, President and CEO, WTTC outlined the Council’s provisional estimates for the industry's economic impact in 2008 and 2009. “The deterioration in the macroeconomic environment and the marked slowdown in the monthly indicators of tourism activity in the last months of 2008 resulted in a much more pronounced cycle in travel and tourism economy GDP than envisaged in January 2008,” noted Baumgarten.
He further added, “The relatively resilient first-half 2008 performance, plus the lead time between holiday bookings and actual vacations suggest that the impact on growth in 2008 would have been limited. |