The Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has met with H.E. Kais Saied, President of Tunisia, and his Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi of Tunisia during a high-level visit to the North African country. This second visit to an African Member State in the space of three weeks reaffirms UNWTO's commitment to restarting tourism across the continent and focus on working closely with governments to promote sustainable growth and innovation.

Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili thanked President Saied and his government for their strong support for tourism at this challenging time. A key focus of the high-level meeting was exploring ways in which UNWTO can support Tunisia as it channels tourism's power to drive sustainable development. Alongside this, the Secretary-General and the Tunisian authorities discussed UNWTO's partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with a current project providing technical support to drive the recovery of Tunisia's tourism sector in the wake of the pandemic.

Together for future collaboration

Secretary-General Pololikashvili said: "Tunisia is an example of a country effectively investing in tourism and harnessing the unique power of the sector to promote development and create opportunities for many. I thank President Saied for his warm hospitality and for his government's support of tourism throughout and beyond the pandemic."

In addition to the meeting with the President and Prime Minister, the UNWTO delegation also held talks with the Tunisian Minister of Tourism Habib Ammar to discuss plans for current and future collaboration. Reflecting the key priorities of UNWTO's leadership, the talks focused on ways to boost sustainable tourism and to create jobs through innovation, education and investments, as well as tourism for rural development.

Investing in Africa's future

Also reflecting UNWTO's core priorities, most notably a commitment to developing talent and promoting education, the Secretary-General spoke at the opening of the Tunisia Hospitality Symposium. The Symposium was held at the Carthage High Commercial Studies Institute (or IHEC Carthage), the first and most prestigious business school in Tunisia.

The service sector, which includes tourism, is one of the two main economic sectors for Tunisia. According to UNWTO data, African destinations experienced a 99% decline in international tourist arrivals during the second quarter of 2020 when compared with 2019. Working closely alongside Member States from across the continent, UNWTO has realigned its 2030 Agenda for Africa to reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and help drive sustainable recovery.

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.

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