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Purpose Beyond Profit with RDO8 Guest Speaker Geoffrey Breeze – Executive Director, World Travel & Tourism Council

RDO / Events  / Purpose Beyond Profit with RDO8 Guest Speaker Geoffrey Breeze – Executive Director, World Travel & Tourism Council
1 Aug 2017

Purpose Beyond Profit with RDO8 Guest Speaker Geoffrey Breeze – Executive Director, World Travel & Tourism Council

The Travel & Tourism industry represents one of the most significant sectors of the global economy, “supporting 292 million jobs and generating 10.2% of global GDP.” Clearly this industry is so much more important than merely trivial leisure pursuit, but something that literally hundreds of millions of people depend upon for their daily livelihoods.

In addition to economic development though, those who work in tourism every day are also helping to share cultures and build mutual understanding which is ultimately helping to create a more peaceful world. 2017 was declared the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the UN, and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has aimed to set out the conditions in which this sustainability can best be achieved. It’s not all down to this organization though, who suggest that it’s very important for governments to support tourism in very specific ways.

The WTTC was created in 1991 by a group of Travel & Tourism CEOs who felt that there was a lack of recognition for the sector’s extremely important global contribution to economies and job creation. The objectives of the organisation from the beginning have been to promote awareness of the global economic importance of this industry through the use of empirical evidence, to expand markets in a harmonious way with the environment, and to reduce the barriers to future growth.

The WTTC speaks as one voice with governments and international bodies, and is the only global body to do so that brings together all the major players in the Travel & Tourism industry (airlines, hotels, cruise, car rental, travel agencies, tour operators, GDS, and technology). This is a key feature of the WTTC that it successfully represents all sectors of this industry, including those that are vital services to Travel & Tourism, as well as the broadest geographical range.

RDO8 guest speaker Geoffrey Breeze has worked as the Executive Director of the WTTC since he joined the organisation back in 2011. Since he graduated from Oxford university he has worked within the world of marketing, initially starting with Procter & Gamble straight after graduating, spending the next nine years in consumer goods marketing, before switching to run worldwide marketing at the international division of Avis.

Following his time with Avis he then helped to restore the Hilton International brand to global prominence while working for the company as Corporate Vice President of marketing for 14 years. He also helped to finally reconsolidate the U.S. and Hilton International brands into one brand. In addition to his marketing career he has also worked extensively with technology in both the travel entertainment industries.  

During his guest presentation at RDO8, Geoffrey will discuss the work of the WTTC and the vital importance of the Travel & Tourism industry to the global economy. The focus of his presentation will be how this industry should be more than just about profit but also focused on contributing to substantially increasing global sustainability and also stability.

The Travel & Tourism industry provides and creates jobs, shares cultures and builds greater understanding between people across the world, that ultimately leads to more peace and greater prosperity for all. As part of the WTTC different sectors of the Travel & Tourism industry can have an open dialogue with government and other international bodies as to how to best improve this sustainability and growth together.

Find out more about the World Travel & Tourism Council via their website: https://www.wttc.org/ and connect with them via social media channels:

You can also connect with Geoffrey via LinkedIn.

We would like to offer a big thanks to our Platinum sponsors, CLC World Resorts & Hotels, Diamond Resorts International, Interval International and RCI and our Gold level sponsors, Dial An Exchange, Generator Systems and Shawbrook Bank. Without our sponsors each year the event wouldn’t be possible so we are extremely grateful for their amazing support.

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