Hotel Resilient Initiative Strengthening the Resilience

of the Tourism Sector

UNISDR Asia Partnership MeetingBangkok, June 5th 2015

With support from the German Government through

Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2014

Why Tourism Matters?

Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2014

Trends & Forecast

The UNWTO World Tourism Barometer 2015 indicates that international tourist arrivals have reached a record with 1,138 million arrivals worldwide in 2014.

• Tourism is a major economic sector in Asia Pacific

• Travel and tourism’s direct contribution to GDP was US$694 billion (equivalent to 3%) in Asia Pacific (Northeast Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania). In Southeast Asia, it is 4.8% of GDP.

• Visitor Exports (money spent by foreign visitors to a country) for 2014 was $397 billion.

• Travel & Tourism generated 64,001,000 jobs directly in 2014 (3.7% of total employment) and is forecast to grow by 1.8% in 2015 to 65,161,500 (3.7% of total employment).

Source: WTCC: The Economic Impact of Travel & Tourism 2015.

Trends & Forecast

Source: PATA Visitor Forecasts 2015-2019

Trends & Forecast

• Economic losses from disasters are now reaching an average of US$ 250 - US$300 billion each year

• Tourism is one of the most severely exposed sectors (GAR 13) location of many destinations in hazard prone areas unfamiliarity of tourist with environment and hazards hotel industry is often unable to address and manage

natural hazards emphasis on disaster response rather than reducing

risks

The Vulnerability of the Tourism Sector

Objective: To improve disaster risk management and strengthen resilience in the tourism industry.

Who: UNISDR, PATA and GIZ/GIDRM

Approach: Work with public and private partners in the field of tourism and disaster risk management to develop instruments that reduce disaster risks of hotels to natural and technological hazards. Tailored components for larger hotels and SMEs according to their requirements and capacities.

The Hotel Resilient Initiative

Current Focus Countries:

Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand

Main outcomes:

•Conduct a Market Study to verify the needs of standards

•Raise awareness and promote the Hotel Resilient initiative (tourism/ DRM Events and Conference)

•Develop risk management standards and pilot them up to 3 selected destinations

The Hotel Resilient Initiative

• Semi-structured interviews with 17 representatives of government agencies, hotel industry, hotel and tourism associations, tour operators, and insurance companies in Indonesia, the Maldives, the Philippines, and Thailand.

• Key areas included:

Hotel Risk Management Strategies Benefits and Barriers to Adoption of Standards Marketability of Risk Management Needs of the tourism sector

The Market Study – Methodology

Hotel Risk Management Strategies

Independent hotels rely on their experience to develop risk management strategiesChain hotels tend to have individual standards and audited systems in disaster managementThere are some legislated requirements for risk management in hotels

Benefits and Barriers to Adoption of Standards

The need for developing standardized standards for disaster resilience is supported by many in the industry Main barriers - cost, time, capacity, structures

The Market Study – Findings

Marketability of Risk Management

Insurers do reduce premiums due to effective risk management practicesTour operators / travel agencies and those booking conferences or corporate retreats demand information on risk management and risk assessments Disaster risks are not a significant factor in tourist destination and hotel selection yet, but risk awareness is growing

Needs of the tourism sector

Information sharing and partnerships are importantThe importance of trainingDiverse needs in destinations

The Market Study – Findings

1. Develop standardized standards

2. Work with hotel industry leaders

3. Reflect relevant legislation

4. Promote both legislative and market forces

5. Focus on business to business marketing of the Initiative

6. Engage global insurers and industry associations

7. Create local partnerships among stakeholders

8. Consider the needs of the industry

9. Consider certification in phase two of the Initiative

The Market Study – Recommendations

2015•Publish Market Study on ‘Disaster Resilience in Hotels and Destinations’•Development of risk management standards with a technical partner in a selected pre-pilot destination in Asia-Pacific region

2016•Call of bids and selection of up to three pilot destinations in the Asia-Pacific region based on predefined criteria

Next Steps

Thank you very much for your attention!

For further information please contact:

Hanna Maier (GIDRM/GIZ)E-mail: hanna.maier@giz.de

Brigitte Leoni (UNISDR)E-mail: leonib@un.org

Paul Pruangkarn (PATA)E-mail: paul@pata.org

With support from the German Government through