PERTH, Australia -- While most people may be familiar with megabrands like Marriott and Delta, 80% of the global travel and tourism sector is made up of small and medium-size enterprises, or SMEs.
Citing that number, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) at its Global Summit here launched an initiative called Together in Travel to provide support and resources to those business and to show lawmakers the full magnitude of the travel industry.
Together in Travel, which is free to join, gives subscribers access to content such as a section on social media tips, networking opportunities and educational programs. Next year, the initiative will introduce paid subscriber options with enhanced features and benefits (the platform does not provide membership to the WTTC).
Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch, vice chair of membership at the WTTC and a driving force behind Together in Travel, said a motivating factor for the program is that it gives the travel industry more influence.
"If we show up at a parliament, a city hall or somewhere, it's one thing when you say, 'we're WTTC,'" he said. "But if you show up at a governmental entity and say, 'By the way, within your borders or your city limits we also represent 1,200 small businesses,' quite frankly, it's a political and moral high ground."
For Together in Travel's SME members, Upchurch said the three most important things that the initiative provides are pride, inspiration and access to practical tools.
An example of those tools, he said, is the economic impact reports on a per-country basis that the WTTC produces in partnership with Oxford Economics.
"In the hands of a small business, it could be the appendix to a loan document for an investment bank," Upchurch said.
Another example is the WTTC's report this month on the strength of Indigenous travel. Upchurch said the research "could be a fabulous piece of information to show that this is a real trend, there's real money behind it."
He added, "We don't need to tell [SMEs] about how to run a DMC or how to run a boutique hotel. We need to help provide the larger picture."
Taking pride in the business
Pride is paramount to the project, Upchurch said. "If we accomplish one thing, it'd be for every travel and tourism business to say, 'I'm not just a hotelier, I'm not just a cruise industry person or whatever, but I'm a proud member of the world travel and tourism industry, which is one in 10 jobs, etc., etc.,' because just the repetition of that basic statistic provides an important impetus."
Inspiration will come from each other and larger companies and leading figures in the industry, Upchurch said. He said he hoped WTTC members will help SMEs by sharing their knowledge.
As an example of a topic that SMEs could learn from, he cited Intrepid Travel's work around animal welfare in tourism.
"If you're going to develop an animal-related tourism venture, what are the most important frameworks to make sure that it's ethical? Or it may be measuring sustainability or staffing," he said. "The idea is for a lot of those WTTC members to start to offer things that they develop for themselves and make it open source and available to SMEs."
During the summit, Ryan Mossny, co-founder of Perth's Matagarup Zip+Climb, became the first member of Together in Travel.
"As a small business, accessing the vital resources and industry connections needed to thrive in the travel sector can be challenging," he said. "WTTC's new initiative has come at a perfect time.
"Through tailored support, we will be able to directly tackle our problem areas head-on, allowing us not only to survive but to thrive in an increasingly competitive market."