UNWTO and Instagram have joined forces to produce a ‘Tourism Recovery Playbook’, and so help destinations and business harness the power of digital and visual storytelling to reach new audiences and return to growth.

This first ever partnership with Instagram forms part of UNWTO’s wider shift towards harnessing the power of digital innovation to drive the restart of tourism, especially local and sustainable tourism. It also represents Instagram’s recognition of tourism as a leading provider of livelihoods and global opportunity, welcoming UNWTO as partners in a first structured effort to use the platform as a tool to help kickstart the sector’s recovery. The partnership was announced against the backdrop of World Travel Market in London, the leading tourism trade fair where UNWTO brings together political and business leaders, and after of UNWTO amplifying tourism’s unified response to the climate emergency at the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow.

Expert insights into storytelling for tourism

The Recovery Playbook provides insights into making the most of the platform, from producing Reels to showcase destinations to using Guides and other tools to illustrate how the sector is ready to welcome tourists back safely and responsibly. It also explores the best ways to encourage renewed local travel, while raising environmental awareness. Alongside best practice and tips on effective tourism storytelling, the publication also features case studies of small businesses and destinations have successfully used Instagram to connect with key audiences during the pandemic.

In his foreword to the Tourism Recovery Playbook, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili says: “As parts of the world begin cautiously opening up again, now is the time to be creative in showing why tourism matters – for individuals, for our communities and for our planet. UNWTO’s partnership with Instagram will show that safe, responsible travel is possible, and to illustrate how just one tourist can make a big difference.”

“We know countless small businesses and destinations are ready to welcome the world back to their doorsteps,” said Asya Kislyuk, Policy Programs Manager at Instagram. “Instagram is proud to provide a playbook for people to help make it happen when the time is right – safely and sustainably.”

Advancing UNWTO’s digital shift

This first collaboration with Instagram builds on UNWTO’s ongoing turn towards greater use of digital tools and visual storytelling to make clear the relevance and importance of tourism to economies, societies, and planet. The Organization has accelerated this shift in its efforts to scale up Member support and enable them to better seize the advantages of digital communications platforms.

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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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