Tourism has been rebuilding since March 8, 2020. On March 8, 2020 a small group of tourism leaders supported by this publication and PATA met at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin on a sideline of a canceled ITB to discuss the future of the travel and tourism industry.

It was the launch of rebuilding.travel . With COVID – 19 taking over the world of tourism, the discussion became the most relevant discussion in the sector.

Today rebuilding.travel became a network and an organization. The organization is called WTN or World Tourism Network

Members are in more than 120+ countries, and the focus is to give a powerful voice to the smaller to medium size businesses in the global travel and tourism world.

WTN includes known leaders like Dr. Taleb Rifai, a former UNWTO Secretary-General, and many new faces in the global travel and tourism leadership. Chaired by Dr. Peter Tarlow and Juergen Steinmetz WTN is planning to build its structure from the bottom up.

Local and regional or national chapters will be in the driver seat with a global link of support. 8 new local chapters were announced today and include Washington DC, Nepal, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Balkan, Greece, and chapters in cooperation with the African Tourism Board.

Non regional interest groups like Aviation, Virtual Tourism or a discussion on climate change, cultural cities or Peace Through Tourism, Investments, Outreach, are to inspire interest groups with an international agenda.