According to the recent World Tourism Barometer, the UNWTO “anticipates a strong year for the sector even in the face of diverse challenges including the economic situation and continued geopolitical uncertainty.” IUF affiliates in the tourism sector have reported that in many markets, pre-pandemic numbers and profits are likely in 2023.
- The IUF and its affiliates demand once again a real change in the tourism model based on workers’ rights, freedom of association and collective bargaining, healthy and safe workplaces, and climate justice
- With the sector on a strong path to recovery and economic growth, governments, international institutions like the UNWTO, and employers, must negotiate with trade unions to redefine the industry with workers at its center; the UNWTO’s refusal to engage with the IUF during the COVID-19 pandemic was destructive and must be reversed
- The IUF welcomes the ILO conclusions on COVID-19 and the sustainable recovery of the tourism sector and believes that implementation of these conclusions would set the industry on a positive, worker-centered, sustainable path
Kerstin Howald, EFFAT-IUF Europe Tourism Officer, stated, “COVID-19 has exacerbated decent work deficits in the tourism sector, many of which had existed before the pandemic. Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are key to improving working conditions, wages, occupational health and safety, social protection, gender equality, technical vocational education and training, and for the just transition to an inclusive, sustainable and resilient future of work.”
