UNWTO will be a co-organizer of the Future of Tourism World Summit, presented by the Advanced Leadership Foundation and the INCYDE Foundation of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce with the support of Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Zona Franca Consortium (CZFB). The event will be held in a hybrid format on October 26 and 27 at La Llotja de Mar and will bring together more than 80 speakers from 70 countries.

After announcing their incorporation as co-organizers of the summit, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili stressed that it represents "an opportunity to rethink tourism development, ensuring the fairer distribution of its benefits and advancing the transition towards a carbon-neutral and more socially resilient tourism economy."

For two days, experts will explore creative ways out of the crisis caused by the pandemic. They will also address issues related to sustainability, cultural identities, accessible tourism, wine tourism and personalized travel experiences, among others.

The event will be attended by 20 Ministers of Tourism from around the world, alongside former heads of state and government, as well as representatives of international organizations, business associations and global knowledge networks, including UNWTO, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the International Youth Organization (IYO), the Organization of American States (OAS), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Commission (EC).

The aim of the Future of Tourism World Summit is to find solutions to the challenges facing tourism worldwide in the aftermath of COVID-19, to develop collaborative systems to turn this crisis into an opportunity for shared progress and to contribute to the global economic reactivation of the sector.

The event will culminate in the signing of the Barcelona Declaration, which aims to become an international benchmark, establishing a framework for a new, more ethical and sustainable tourism model.

First forum on the future of post-pandemic tourism

The vice-president of the Advanced Leadership Foundation, Jorge Brown, explained that the summit aims to make tourism visible as "a central driver of the economy in all countries worldwide" and "must take measures to adapt to all contemporary challenges, especially after the pandemic". "It is the first forum exclusively dedicated to addressing the future of tourism, and we are gathering leading decision-makers from all over the world," he added. Brown also stressed that they have chosen to host the Summit in Barcelona because it is a "dynamic, diverse and inspiring city that looks to the future as an opportunity, while at the same time embracing its history."

For the president of the INCYDE Foundation, José Luis Bonet, this Summit is "a sign of our ability to promote a global debate on how tourism can contribute to making the whole planet prosper in a sustainable and inclusive way, and of Spain's firm commitment to UNWTO, whose headquarters are located in our country". According to Bonet, "this summit means turning Barcelona, one of the world's leading tourist destinations, into an area for reflection, debate and the generation of new proposals for the recovery, modernization and reinvention of tourism, a position that will be extraordinarily reinforced with the signing of the Barcelona Declaration.”

The forum also aims to identify and promote leadership in the tourism sector to contribute to the future of the economy. As part of the summit, there will be an international call for 300 leaders who will be trained during the two days of the congress and then virtually for a further 12 months. The selected participants will work to replicate the knowledge they have learned, as well as to seek new allies for the Barcelona Declaration.

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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