COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the travel and tourism industry, with estimates ranging from 60% to 80% decline in international tourism for 2020, but the sector is preparing for a resumption of travel once the threat of the pandemic has subsided. In order to ensure that the renewal of international travel is a green recovery that doesn’t lead to an undoing of conservation gains made with travellers over the last few years, it is important to understand the drivers that lead tourists to purchase elephant ivory while abroad.
Before the current international travel restrictions were in place, GlobeScan and WWF conducted a study amongst more than 3000 Chinese travellers who had all been to key destinations in Asia – Cambodia, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, or Vietnam – between August 2019 and January 2020.
On 10 November 2020 we hosted a webinar to learn about the results of this pre-COVID19 study and to discuss the best way to anticipate and curtail tourist demand for ivory in the future.
We were thrilled to have the following panelists join us to share their valuable insights:
- Karen Xue, Director and Global Coordination of WWF’s Ivory High Impact Initiative
- Jesse Taweekan, Greater Mekong Regional Illegal Wildlife Trade Program Manager, WWF
- James Sano, Vice President for Travel, Tourism and Conservation, WWF
- Wander Meijer, Director Asia Pacific, GlobeScan
- Daniel Bergin, Senior Project Manager, GlobeScan
The session was moderated by Mia Signs from WWF.
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