Apr 30, 2021
Aruba Recognized for Environmental and Recovery Efforts on Global Stage
The return to travel is underway with sage advice from the world’s trusted hospitality experts at the World Travel & Tourism Council’s Global Summit.
Ewald Biemans, owner and CEO of Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort in Eagle Beach, Aruba, spoke on the mainstage session yesterday as a panelist.
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) themed this year’s event "Uniting the World for Recovery" for its 20th Global Summit. Taking place April 25-27 in Cancun, Mexico, the highest-level industry leaders are meeting with key government representatives to take action on the biggest and most important issues across the international agenda. This year, the Global Summit is exploring challenges ahead and providing a platform for the recovery of the sector.
Yesterday’s panel was “Travel in the Fast Lane: Safe & Seamless Travel.” The discussion centered on current sentiment that 45% of passengers are ready to discard their paper passports and use biometric identification instead. Digital identity and biometric identification are rapidly rising in importance. This is combined with an acceleration of innovations in health and safety, ranging from thermal imaging to electrostatic sprays. As the sector redoubles its efforts to provide a safe and seamless traveler experience to rebuild traveler confidence, discussion focused on new health requirements and integrate testing ahead of a vaccine, while ultimately moving towards a contactless traveler journey.
The discussion was moderated by Peter Greenberg, the travel editor for U.S.-based CBS News. Panelists shared their in-depth experience and views. The panel included:
- Ewald Biemans, Owner/CEO, Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Aruba
- Sean Donohue, Chief Executive Officer, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
- Kelly Craighead, President & Chief Executive Officer, CLIA
- Jose Ricardo Botelho, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director, ALTA
- Andrew Wingrove, General Manager, Aviation, CLEAR
Introduced as conquering the ambitious achievement of CarbonNeutral® certification for his own Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Biemans elaborated on Aruba’s success in providing a seamless, healthy, quick and forward-thinking environment to provide a safe place for travel and tourism. Moderator Peter Greenberg recounted his visit to Aruba years ago and discussions with the Aruban government about becoming carbon neutral. Biemans recounted the challenges and how the government has overcome them to renew their commitment and plans to become free of fossil fuel dependency by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2050.
A link to yesterday’s discussion can be found here at the 5:28:30 mark.
