The Diplomat
UN Tourism and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen the tourism sector in Ibero-America yesterday in Madrid in the framework of Fitur.
The memorandum signed by the Ibero-American Secretary General, Andrés Allamand, and the Secretary General of UN Tourism, Zurab Pololikashvili, aims to improve the competitiveness, innovation and development of the tourism sector in Ibero-America, as well as to promote the sustainable development of tourist destinations in order to increase the social and economic benefits for communities.
Through the agreement, “both institutions are committed to jointly generate reports, projects and instruments that provide knowledge and promote innovation, digitisation, the exchange of experiences and best practices among Ibero-American countries,” according to SEGIB in a statement.
Both organisations will cooperate in the execution of projects in various areas, such as the implementation of gastronomic tourism initiatives that promote social cohesion in Ibero-America as a driver of local development; the promotion of projects that guarantee gender equality and the empowerment of women as a lever for social transformation in Ibero-American tourism, and the promotion of measures that contribute to the development of accessible tourism in the region.
The memorandum will boost the development of the ‘Strategic lines on tourism and sustainable development in Ibero-America’, approved during the XII Ibero-American Meeting of Ministers of Tourism in 2020, and presented to the Heads of State and Government during the XXVII Ibero-American Summit held in Andorra that same year.
Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary General of UN Tourism, stressed “the importance of joining allies, such as the 22 countries that make up Ibero-America, so that tourism can be another lever for sustainable development, the reduction of poverty and inequality, taking into account the inclusion and innovation of people”.
For his part, the Ibero-American Secretary General, Andrés Allamand, pointed out that “tourism is one of the main drivers of development in the Ibero-American region: it is a cross-cutting sector of the economy that directly and indirectly influences all the strategic actors of development and supports progress in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a result of its great multiplier and dynamising effect on the economic, social and environmental structures of any region, country or municipality”.
“The importance of the sector is also a reality in Ibero-America and at SEGIB we are very aware of the need to work to promote the actions and activities necessary to consolidate tourism as one of the pillars of development in the region. The signing of this Memorandum with the World Tourism Organisation is a further step in this direction,” said Allamand.
