BECOMING GREEN - Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism - page 197

rainforest,” he said. “Clearly sustainability is the long-term strategy for tourism. It's good
business. And it is for everyone in the business. The focus of sustainability is to get every-
one involved. Europe has been the leader. We have to do more.”
Interspersed with the awards were panels to discuss the state of tourism. The recession
and its deeply unsettling bite into business was the top concern of the executives.
“After 9/11, political leaders asked everyone to travel again. We're seeing the opposite
now in this recession,” said Hubert Joly, president and CEO of Carlson, the hotel and
hospitality corporation. He recounted how U.S. travel industry leaders had to plead for a
meeting with President Obama in March to delicately request a more positive position on
business travel and to underline how much travel and tourism contributes to the economy,
especially during down times. Yet, said Joly, “none of the governments are including travel
and tourism in the conversation about economic recovery.”
Fernando Pinto, the CEO of TAP Air Portugal, agreed. “We are the cash cows,” he said,
expanding on the underlying theme that their business doesn't receive the respect it de-
serves. The snubs from political leaders was a variation on the old insult that travel and
tourism are frivolous pursuits and travel executives not serious businesspeople. And the
answer to that quandary was the familiar refrain: “We have to act like an Industry—not like
'Travel and Tourism,' but we have to behave like an industry,” said Charles Petruccelli,
president of Global Travel Services at American Express.
The environment was the second-most-talked-about issue. Unlike other environmental
awards ceremonies, there was no overall consensus about how much the industry was re-
sponsible for the problem or how hard it was working to reverse environmental degrad-
ation. What the participants did agree on was that tourism depends on the health of the
planet.
“If there are no monkeys, no birds, no rainforests, where would our tourists go?” said
Alex Khajavi, the CEO of Naturegate, an airline and tourism company, when he accepted
an award at the summit for innovative sustainable tourism. This was more than the expres-
sion of the triple bottom line. It was an acknowledgment that the planet may be a higher
priority than profits.
A major political decision had already been taken when the now-hundred-member-
strong WTTC selected Brazil as the site of the summit. It was the first time a South Amer-
ican country had been chosen for the prestigious gathering. Brazil, though, isn't just a
South American country. As one of the countries known collectively as BRIC (Brazil, Rus-
sia, India and China), it is one of the four major developing nations whose wealth is shift-
ing the centers of power and influence around the world. And, with the conference's em-
phasis on sustainable tourism and the environment, Brazil and its endangered Amazon
Basin was an ideal choice.
Grateful for this honor, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opened up the
conference with a stirring address. It was a singular performance by one of the sharpest