The Diplomat
UNWTO and international broadcaster Euronews have signed a new agreement to work together to lead the global tourism recovery by highlighting the heightened economic, development, social and cultural relevance of the sector.
This agreement was signed within the framework of the opening of UNWTO’s Regional Office in the Middle East in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It builds on the existing cooperation between the UN specialized agency for tourism and this leading international broadcaster towards restoring trust in travel and restarting tourism. Europe is the main source market for Middle East, a growing tourism destination and one that is coming of age, as shown by the opening of the UNWTO office there. The partnership will focus on identifying tourism-related news that will inspire and inform viewers and showcase the sector’s importance to drive recovery and sustainable development for all.
“This partnership will showcase tourism’s unique ability to provide opportunity and drive growth and allow us to share UNWTO’s trusted data and tourism insights with a wider audience”, said UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili.
Euronews’ CEO Michael Peters says: “For almost three decades, Euronews has worked with the biggest players in the travel & tourism industry, from airlines, hotels to tourism boards, countries, regions and investment agencies, crafting meaningful stories in 15 languages and enabling a 360° communication strategy for our partners to reach over 140M consumers every month. During the height of the pandemic, we launched a dedicated “Euronews Travel” vertical, rooted in Euronews’ multi-cultural storytelling expertise. Our viewers are passionate about travel, but also in taking an active role in the future of tourism: enthusiasm has not decreased since the beginning of the pandemic, quite the opposite. More than 50% of Europeans plan to travel again in the coming six months. We are excited to work with the UNWTO to offer our viewers a closer relationship with this important industry and to offer our partners in this sector a trusted platform to share their inspirational stories with the world.”
UNWTO and Euronews will collaborate on joint tourism related research projects. Under the agreement, Euronews will also provide ongoing support for several UNWTO’s leading initiatives, including recovery communications, tourism innovation and skills development.
