The Diplomat
The Future of Tourism World Summit concluded with the ‘Barcelona Call-to-Action for the Future of Tourism’, an international document to move towards a new, more innovative, ethical and sustainable model of tourism.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili, stressed in his speech that “leadership” is “necessary” to promote this transformation and the “call from Barcelona” represents “a commitment to move forward” along this path.
The document aims to respond to companies after the crisis generated by covid-19, to promote policies and strategies that are committed to the sustainable use of resources and to promote digitisation and international cooperation.
The presentation of the ‘Barcelona Call-to-Action for the Future of Tourism’ is part of the Future of Tourism World Summit, which ended on Wednesday at the Casa Llotja de Mar in Barcelona after two days of sessions with more than a hundred international speakers.
Future of Tourism Global Summit is promoted and organised by the Advanced Leadership Foundation, the INCYDE Foundation of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce and the UNWTO with the support of the Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Provincial Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB).
The summit was created with the aim of finding solutions to the challenges posed by tourism worldwide after covid-19, to develop collaboration systems so that the crisis becomes an opportunity for shared progress and to contribute to the global economic revival of the sector, responsible for almost 11% of global GDP but which has been hard hit by the restrictions of the pandemic.