Dominican President Joins UNWTO and IE University to Announce 300 Tourism Education Scholarships
UNWTO and IE University continue to build on their shared commitment to nurturing tourism talent and promoting accessible education with the announcement of new scholarships to the UNWTO Online Academy. In line with the Organization’s focus on expanding access to training and skills development, and in close collaboration with IE University, the Government of the Dominican Republic will make 300 scholarships available to students from this leading tourism destination.
The scholarships are funded by the Government of the Dominican Republic and were announced by the country’s President Luis Abinader and Minister of Tourism David Collado, together with UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, and Diego del Alcázar Benjumea, CEO of IE University, during a visit to the IE Tower, the new technological and sustainable campus of IE University in the north of Madrid.
The initiative will allow 100 students of all backgrounds to benefit from a wide range of online courses designed to help them gain the skills they need to either start their careers in tourism or advance in the sector. Courses are available in three languages (English, Spanish and Arabic) and delivered by some of the world’s leading experts, including from UNWTO partner IE University.
Welcoming President Abinader, Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili praised his Government’s commitment to tourism, noting that the Dominican Republic was one of the first destinations to re-open its borders, a move that protected many thousands of jobs and helped kickstart economic recovery.
Mr Pololikashvili added: “Everybody should be able to learn the knowledge and the skills they need to work in tourism and be part of our sector’s future. The 300 scholarship holders from the Dominican Republic will help further establish the country as one of the leading tourism destinations in the world – as well as a key ally of UNWTO in the Americas.”
The scholarship program signing event was attended by Diego del Alcázar Benjumea, CEO of IE University, who highlighted "the extraordinary contribution of tourism not only to the economic growth of vacation destinations and source markets, but also to the well-being of everyone." He added: “the tourism sector will continue to grow strongly after the pandemic and a key element of that growth will be the training of tourism professionals.”
To date, the UNWTO IE University Online Tourism Academy has welcomed almost 15,000 students from 190 countries as education continues to be a core priority of the UNWTO leadership.
RELATED LINKS
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.
UNWTO Communications Department
+34 91 567 8100
UN Tourism
