The World Travel & Tourism Council has unveiled the theme and a number of headline speakers for its upcoming Global Summit.

Under the tagline ‘Uniting the World for Recovery,’ the event will take place in the Mexican resort town of Cancun from April 25-27.

The world is seeing progress with vaccine rollouts, digital passes becoming more normalised and an increased regularity of health and hygiene measures that signal that countries are preparing for the restart of international travel through all the right measures and protocols.

Therefore, the organisation argued this is the perfect time for the summit to happen, and it will be the ideal platform to discuss the recovery of the sector which has been devasted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

At a press conference in Cancun, Gloria Guevara, WTTC chief executive, and Carlos Joaquín González, governor of the state of Quintana Roo, announced that speakers from all corners of the globe will be taking part.

These include business leaders from Carnival Corporation, Hilton, Marriott, Meliá, Airbnb, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Expedia Group, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Trip.com and Internova, among others.

During the press conference, WTTC also announced that former president of Colombia and 2016 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Juan Manuel Santos, will be taking to the stage during the Global Summit.

The event, which will take place in a hybrid format, allowing those unable to travel to benefit from the content virtually, is taking place at the Moon Palace Convention Centre in the heart of the resort.

Guevara said: “Our Global Summit will be the platform for the global recovery of this important industry.

“It is time for everyone to work together and move this sector forward. Our event will pave the way to recover millions of tourism jobs which have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.”