WTTC and ICC join forces to strengthen tourism SMEs worldwide - Get updated on what's happening in tourism!

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) have agreed a strategic partnership aimed at improving conditions for millions of small and medium-sized enterprises across the global Travel & Tourism sector. A newly signed Memorandum of Understanding establishes a framework for joint research, policy work, business engagement and knowledge sharing.

The initiative brings together WTTC’s tourism expertise and economic research with an ICC network encompassing more than 45 million businesses in over 170 countries. The organisations plan to use this reach to provide tourism SMEs with practical guidance, market insights and international connections, while bringing their concerns more directly into discussions with governments and policymakers.

The scale of the segment makes those concerns significant for the wider industry. According to WTTC, SMEs account for more than 85% of Travel & Tourism businesses worldwide. They play a major role in employment, entrepreneurship and local economic development, but often have fewer resources to deal with complex regulation, skills shortages, restricted access to finance and markets, digitalisation requirements and obstacles affecting international travel.

Tackling barriers to growth

WTTC and ICC intend to identify problems that disproportionately affect smaller tourism businesses and develop policy recommendations based on research and direct business input. Areas highlighted by the organisations include fragmented regulation, access to finance, digital barriers, connectivity and visa requirements.

The partnership will also bring together representatives from the public and private sectors and use ICC’s international network to gather information from businesses in different markets. The objective is to strengthen the evidence available to policymakers rather than approaching SME issues solely from the perspective of large tourism companies.

“Travel & Tourism is powered by millions of businesses around the world, and SMEs are at the heart of our sector,” said Gloria Guevara, President and CEO of WTTC. “By combining WTTC’s understanding of Travel & Tourism with ICC’s extraordinary global reach, we can take evidence from businesses directly to governments and work with policymakers to remove barriers, strengthen competitiveness and unlock greater investment and employment.”

From research to policy

Initial cooperation will focus on research and business engagement, policy development, knowledge sharing and opportunities to connect tourism companies with broader international business networks. Practical tools and information for SMEs are also intended to form part of the programme.

For ICC, the initiative reflects the importance of tourism as an internationally connected industry in which smaller businesses depend heavily on the movement of people and access to markets across borders.

“At a time of economic uncertainty, strengthening the operating environment for the millions of small businesses that power this sector is both an economic and strategic imperative,” said ICC Secretary General John W. H. Denton. The partnership should help support entrepreneurship and ensure that tourism growth generates benefits across economies and local communities, he added.

WTTC and ICC ultimately intend to use their combined influence to press governments for improvements in the regulatory and commercial environment. Their agenda includes reducing financial and digital obstacles as well as mobility barriers that make it more difficult for smaller businesses to participate in international tourism.

For an industry in which the overwhelming majority of companies are SMEs, the initiative also broadens the focus of international tourism policy. Rather than concentrating primarily on major airlines, hotel groups and other multinational players, the partnership aims to give smaller businesses a stronger role in shaping the conditions under which global Travel & Tourism develops.

Image Credit: © AI generated illustration with material courtesy of WTTC