Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of the Easy brand (EasyJet, etc) has just addressed the plenary session of the WEF, saying that travel and tourism can be an absorber of a lot of labour in the region. The investment in the sector can range from large international companies but also home-grown medium and small companies (everything from hotels to ice cream parlors).
He also called for liberalization of the airline industry in the region. He said that flag carrier airlines, although they fill some people with pride, are an outdated concept. He himself had to buy a 2 week vacation to Sharm to get a ‘charter’ flight to the region (another outaded concept according to Stelios).
He also said that travel and tourism promote inter cultural understanding and peace.
Interesting man..