ILO calls crisis meetings on tourism and aviation industries

GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Office (ILO) is to convene a series of crisis meetings here next week to assess the economic turbulence buffeting the tourism and aviation sectors in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States.

"The attacks against New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 and their aftermath have hit the tourism and aviation sectors especially hard at a time when they were already weakened by the ongoing global economic downturn," said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. "We have already seen hundreds of thousands of layoffs, and expect the long term crisis in jobs and enterprises to be even more severe."

Tourism threatened, aviation faces turbulence

Government, employer and worker representatives will meet on 25-26 October to assess the tourism crisis and address means for easing its impact. With security concerns at high pitch, the ILO has already registered a decline of 5-20 per cent in the sector as compared to last year. Based on previous experiences such as the 1990-1991 Gulf War, ILO officials said recovery could be slow and at least one seasonal cycle. Particularly hard hit will be tourism in the Caribbean, where it is a main source of income, the ILO said.

Among the problems faced by the tourism industry are lay-offs of workers. Vulnerable groups are particularly affected, especially seasonal, women and "on-call" employees. Moreover, as the industry is made up mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises (employing half of the labour force of the sector), the hardship faced by many tourism workers will put pressure on governments to provide social support and fight income loss.

In a separate "Think Tank Meeting on the Impact of the 11 September Events for Civil Aviation," independent and industry experts, as well as representatives of airlines and unions, will meet on 29-30 October to analyse the aviation industry and address possible strategies for a response to the crisis, which is expected to cost some 200,000 jobs.

In addition, they will discuss the new agenda for a Tripartite Meeting on Civil Aviation: Social and Safety Consequences of the Crisis Subsequent to the 11 September Events, to be held in Geneva from 21-25 January 2002.

"This is probably the most severe crisis of modern aviation industry," Mr. Somavia said. "In the last aviation crisis a decade ago, far fewer jobs were lost. Yet recovery still took over a year. Alleviating the impact of such crises on the basis of social dialogue is the forte of the ILO."

The emergency discussions by tourism and aviation experts from governments, employers and workers precedes the Global Employment Forum on 1-3 November, where experts including Nobel laureates, union representatives and industry leaders will seek to forge a new global alliance for jobs.