Portugal has committed to partnering with the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017. The commitment was presented to UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai, during his recent official visit to Portugal. Among the initiatives to celebrate the Year, Portugal is promoting the rehabilitation of historical buildings in the interior of the country and routes through natural areas.

On the occasion, Mr. Rifai and Portuguese authorities discussed the role of tourism in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the contribution of tourism to job creation and economic growth in Portugal.

Meeting with Prime Minister Antonio Costa, Mr Rifai addressed the mechanisms of coordination among Ministries to advance tourism development in the country as well as issues of air transport and the relevance of new source markets such as China.

Mr Rifai also met President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with whom he discussed the importance of raising the public visibility of the socio-economic impact of tourism.

Tourism and the SDGs and visa facilitation were on the agenda of the meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Santos Silva. Meeting with the Minister of Economy, Caldeira Cabral, and the Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, Mr. Rifai discussed Portugal's "Revive" Programme aimed at promoting the rehabilitation of historic buildings through private sector investment, as well as the policies in place to promote the regional spread of tourism and fight seasonality.

The visit included the presentation of Portugal 4.0, a project aimed at promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the tourism sector and one of the finalists of the 2016 UNWTO Awards.

Mr. Rifai also visited Madeira, whose Secretary of Economy, Tourism and Culture Eduardo Jesus presented UNWTO with Madeira's regional tourism strategy. Issues in discussion included the project "Porto Santo free Fossil Island".

During his stay in Madeira, Mr Rifai welcomed five hotel chains (Quinta do Furão, Savoy Hotels & Resorts, Pestana Hotel Group, Porto Bay Hotels & Resorts and FourViews Hotels) which joined the Private Sector Commitment to the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics, pledging to implement and promote the principles of the Code and report on their actions.

To date, 499 companies and associations from 67 countries – from airlines and hotels, to tour operators and associations – have committed to uphold ethical standards and live by the Code in their operations.

About UN Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Our Priorities

Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.

Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.

Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.

Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.

Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.

Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.

Our Structure

Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.

Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.

Rut Gómez Sobrino
Principal Media Officer
(+34) 91 567 81 60
UN Tourism