Breaking Barriers, Managing Growth: Travel Summit to be Held in Portugal

Lisbon, Portugal (PRWeb) March 22, 2007 -- Travel & Tourism's leading private sector forum today issued the list of the top priorities and critical issues affecting the industry over the coming decade. This list (in the form of the Global Travel & Tourism Summit programme) is the framework for face to face discussions among private sector leaders, governments and NGOs, representing a wide array of views and conflicting visions from across the world.

The Summit will take place on May 10 to 12, 2007 in Lisbon, and will be hosted by the President of the Portuguese Republic and the Prime Minister of Portugal. The list of participants also includes some of the most outspoken leaders of the industry, including Sir easyGroup Founder & Chairman Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Zagat Survey Co-Founder, Co-Chair & CEO Tim Zagat and Expedia President & CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. In 2007 Portugal will host for the second time the WTTC.

In order to start the debate now, WTTC has opened the global industry's first Interactive Web Channel. This can be accessed at http://www.globaltraveltourism.com/webchannel/.

Industry leaders are lining up to join the online debate as a platform to share their visions of the future landscape of Travel & Tourism. According to WTTC research, Travel & Tourism accounts for 10.4 per cent GDP and over 230 million jobs. Set to grow at more than 4.3 per cent per annum over the next ten years, this industry has attracted a great deal of attention

Conflicting views have already emerged on ways in which to manage this growth, to break down the barriers that inhibit Travel & Tourism's full and sustainable potential. The agenda will focus on infrastructure, red tape, and the eminent role of the industry in relation to the environment and corporate social responsibility.

Inviting opinions from all parties interested and affected by Travel & Tourism, Jean-Claude Baumgarten, President, WTTC said, 'The Interactive Web Channel will help us to open the dialogue to a worldwide audience, to generate and bring together new ideas which will help the Summit define the role of Travel & Tourism in the future'.

Today's Portugal is a fascinating place where new architecture enhances Portugal's landscape as new public buildings and art centers soar high and complement the innovation and spirit of the past. Additionally, Portugal offers visitors world-class lodging and cuisine, all influenced by the allure of our Atlantic coast, 530 miles in length, that is still irresistible to visitors. Portugal's cities have been hailed by travel writers in recent months as some of the most exciting in Europe. Lisbon has reemerged as the place to indulge in fine cuisine, music, and light. Its wide avenues are brimming not simply with history but with fine shops, eateries, and museums.

Porto, to the north, is a cultural capital, with a reborn river district, new cultural institutions, and shopping on par with any capital city on the Continent. And, for fun, spontaneity, and amazing weather, the city of Funchal on Madeira is a wonderful place to escape to. Portugal's cities are alive with culture, cuisine, and light.

But in Portugal one can discover more castles per capita than anywhere else into world and popular forms of music, like the Fado that stretch back 1,000 years. Imagine palatial manor houses welcoming you as their guest with all the elegance of 800 years of tradition. Imagine the most modern of hotels rising like a cloud above the mystic seven hills of Lisbon.

More information at www.visitportugal.com, www.insideportugaltravel.com

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