“We are Your Voice at Global Governance Level”: UNWTO at WTTC Summit
UNWTO has returned to Riyadh to serve as a bridge between public and private leaders as tourism faces up to big challenges of today: high inflation, geopolitical insecurity and the climate emergency.
At the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit, taking place this week in the Saudi capital, UNWTO stressed the vital importance of education and investments as twin factors in ensuring tourism fulfils its enormous potential as a driver of sustainable and inclusive development. The high-level participation of UNWTO in this leading private sector forum further highlighted the Organization’s unique and natural ability to connect political ambitions and private sector capacity.
Education: An Investment in Tourism’s Future
Speaking before the Summit’s two main events, the Global Leaders’ Dialogue and the Summit’s Opening Panel, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: This year, we brought tourism to the UN General Assembly for the first time and we have also put tourism on the G20 agenda
, adding that is why I am here: UNWTO can be your voice at the global governance level.
Carrying forward the momentum of key events held during 2022, including World Tourism Day in Bali, the Ministers’ Summit at World Travel Market in London and, most recently, the UNWTO Executive Council meeting in Marrakesh, the WTTC Summit provided the latest high-level platform for UNWTO to advance its priorities of growing investments in tourism and promoting tourism education and training. As Mr Pololikasvili told participants, skills development is an investment in the future, to build the tourism sector we need.
A Vision for Tourism
Against the backdrop of the WTTC Summit, UNWTO invited all high-level delegates to return to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2023 for the official World Tourism Day celebrations (27 September), to be held around the theme of ‘Green Investments’. The hosting of the international day for the sector will further advance the Kingdom’s ambition to become a top emerging destination.
The Kingdom is a strong supporter of UNWTO’s mission to make tourism a driver of sustainable and inclusive development. UNWTO opened its first Regional Office for the Middle East in May 2021 in Riyadh. Built in record time and during a pandemic, the office is set to become a regional and global hub of tourism education and training as well as of tourism for rural development.
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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