Under the theme ‘What's next? Wine tourism pairs with Innovation…’ and building up on the success of the past five editions, this 6th edition will take place on 19-21 September 2022, in Alba in the Piemonte region, at the heart of the ‘Vineyard Landscape of Piemonte: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato’, a UNESCO recognized Heritage Site.

Featuring over 30 international speakers, the Conference will focus on the role of innovation in the future of wine tourism, how can wine tourism be more sustainable and what are the opportunities of digital and social to enhance the wine tourism value chain and create local benefits.

UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili says: “As the sector’s recovery get underway, I am confident that the conference will represent a unique opportunity to learn from experiences that face up these challenging times to ensure a successful and resilient wine tourism sector in the future."

Massimo Garavaglia Italian Minister of Tourism: “Wine tourism is much more than just selling wine, which clearly is important. When you sell a bottle of wine, you are selling the territory behind that bottle, the culture of that territory, the history of the men who designed these landscapes with the rows of vines.”

“Wine-related tourism has a component in environmental sustainability. It is a component of slow tourism, partly different from traditional tourism. And it is no coincidence that 90 percent of tourists have a food and wine experience during their visit.”

“For these reasons, the UNWTO Alba Conference is certainly a great event for the Piemonte Region. But it is also for all Italian regions, because it provides an international showcase for the entire Italian territory."

“Wine is a driver of Italy’s image worldwide, and an increasingly popular tourist attraction for visitors, thanks to how it blends with our country’s characteristic culture, art and history. In today’s uncertain circumstances, it is of central importance to strengthen the sector’s ability to remain competitive, so the Alba event will offer a key opportunity for the world of wine to reflect on the prospects and challenges wine tourism is set to face," said ENIT CEO Roberta Garibaldi.

Piemonte Region, Councillor for Tourism, Vittoria Poggio says: “We are honored to welcome this important event, whose work will be preceded and accompanied by a rich program of events related to wine on the entire Piedmont. It will be a prestigious moment to introduce the world to the excellence of wine and tourism of our region, to discuss new issues and opportunities for the sector."

Mariano Rabino, President of Ente Turismo Langhe Monferrato Roero, says: "We are proud that Langhe Monferrato Roero region has been chosen to welcome the 6th UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism. For the first time, this Conference will be hosted in Italy and hundreds of delegates and institutional representatives will reach our region to attend the event. They will not only have the opportunity to discuss the main themes of wine tourism, but they will also have the chance to discover the beauties and the uniqueness of our hills. Our region is a pioneer in the world of wine tourism and among the first in Italy and in the world to interpret the demands of a constantly growing tourism market. The challenge today is to continue on this path, keeping the compass oriented towards a development looking to innovation, diversification and environmental, economic and social sustainability."

Over the two days of this edition, 300 professionals from the sector, leading experts and institutional representatives will benefit from the live debates, keynote speeches and workshops that experienced speakers will bring to Alba.

Among these, David Furer, Wine Business Communications and harpers, Writer; Wine Future and Green Wine Future, Program Director; Carlo Petrini, Founder of Slow Food; Tanisha Townsend, Chief Wine Officer, Girl Meets Glass; Chef Pilar Rodriguez from Food & Wine Studio and UNWTO Gastronomy Tourism Ambassador, Mauro Agnoletti, UNESCO Chair, Agricultural Heritage Landscapes Institute of Higher Education University of Florence, Marta Domènech Tomas, General Director of Tourism of Catalunya, Spain, Martin Hawke, Head of Global Product of WINERIST, Pamela Lanier, Founder of the Sonoma Sustainable Tourism Observatory, Roberta Garibaldi, CEO of Italy’s National Tourism Board (ENIT), Niklas Ridoff, CEO of WineTourism.com, David Mora, Founder of Wine Tourism School, Filippo Polidori, Food GURU and CEO of Polidori and Partners, Jana Kreilein, Founder of the.wine.girl, Julia Zuccardi from Bodegas Zuccardi, Sofía Ruiz Cavanagh, CEO of Wineobs, Martin Lhuillier, Head of Wine Tourism in Atout France, the French National Tourism Board, Luca Balbiano, President of the Urban Vineyard Association in Italy, António Pé-Curto, CEO & Founder of Alle Wine and Santiago Vivanco, Vice President and Director General of Fundación Vivanco.

The Conference also includes a High Level Panel on The Future of Wine Tourism, where the necessary policies to advance wine tourism will be discussed by the Minister of Tourism of Bulgaria, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, the Deputy Minister of Tourism of Greece, the Minister of Tourism of Italy, the Minister of Culture of Moldova, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services of Portugal, the Minister of Tourism, Posts, Cooperation and Expo of San Marino and the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia.

Since 2016, the Conference has highlighted the importance of wine tourism to the socio-economic development of destinations and has served as a platform to exchange experiences, identify good practices and promote wine tourism as a tool for sustainable development.

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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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