Manuel Paillole
During the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of UN Tourism, former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero stressed the “decisive” importance of the sector in promoting peace and called for “keeping tourism alive” as a key element to “establish a new stage of multilateralism.
Zapatero -who was honored by UN Tourism with a commemorative plaque “for his leadership in guaranteeing the sustained growth of tourism and consolidating Spain as a world reference in the industry”- insisted on several occasions that tourism is a tool that helps to achieve peace through “dialogue, knowledge and culture”.
“Zurab Pololikashvili said it very well: The more tourism, the more peace,” said the former Prime Minister, who thanked the Secretary General of UN Tourism for the work he has done, especially during the pandemic, ‘because it has meant a relaunching of tourism by the hand of the United Nations’.
Zapatero said that “Spain is extraordinarily grateful that UN Tourism is here” and expressed his wish to be invited by the Secretary General to the inauguration of the new headquarters, at the Palacio de Congresos on the Paseo de la Castellana: “to make up for the time lost because of the times I have not been to the World Tourism Organization”. As Pololikashvili pointed out, with this visit Zapatero has been the first and only Spanish head of government to visit the headquarters of this specialized agency of the United Nations.
“It is true that this was a kind of old commitment to be able to be”, admitted the former Prime Minister, ‘for what it represents symbolically, at the World Tourism Organization with our Secretary General, with Zurab’. In turn, the leader of UN Tourism thanked Zapatero “for his support and friendship” and expressed his intention to place “a plaque of Mr. Pedro Sanchez as the second president to visit us to inaugurate the next UN Tourism headquarters”.
Finally, Pololikashvili highlighted the commitment of Mr. Rodríguez Zapatero to tourism during his government. Not only did he achieve 7% growth in the sector, but he also promoted key policies to ensure that this growth benefited all of society. “His leadership laid the foundations for growth that has continued to this day. He was a true leader in achieving gender equality and accessibility, principles that are also fundamental to UN Tourism,” he concluded.
