The Diplomat
The Royal Site of San Ildefonso, in La Granja (Segovia), will host the 123rd meeting of the UN Tourism Executive Council on May 29 and 30. Spain will be represented by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, and the meeting will propose the name of the new Secretary-General. His appointment must be ratified by the organization’s General Assembly at the end of the year in Saudi Arabia.
According to a press release from the Ministry, “Spain, as the host country, a benchmark in transformative tourism policies, and a permanent member of the Executive Council, will be represented at the highest level by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, and the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez.” The permanent headquarters of UN Tourism, a United Nations agency celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is located in Spain.
The Executive Council, the governing body of UN Tourism, is responsible for ensuring that this United Nations agency carries out its work and stays within budget. It meets at least twice a year and is composed of members elected by the General Assembly.
Hereu, who will preside over the official opening of the Executive Council on Friday, stressed the importance of holding a summit of this international significance in Spain, “a country firmly committed to sustainable tourism and balanced governance of the sector.” In this regard, the minister will defend the Spanish tourism strategy in La Granja, “which prioritizes sustainability in its triple social, economic, and environmental aspects, and the policies of deseasonalization, deconcentration, and digitalization that have been implemented in recent years,” the Ministry stated.
The Executive Council’s busy institutional agenda will begin on Wednesday, May 28, at the Alcázar of Segovia, where the City Council will host a welcome reception for the delegations, and Minister Hereu will conclude the official welcome speeches.
On Thursday, the Affiliates Committee meetings will be held, along with preparations for the main session, which will take place on Friday. Following the official opening, Hereu will participate in the plenary session of the 123rd meeting of the Executive Council. The main milestone of this meeting will be the appointment of the new candidate for the position of Secretary-General of UN Tourism.
This new UN Tourism meeting, according to the Ministry, “comes at a particularly positive time for international tourism, which, despite geopolitical and tariff uncertainties, has managed—according to the institution’s latest barometer from January—to almost completely recover pre-pandemic tourist flows (Spain already did so in 2023 and in 2024 set a new record).” Furthermore, the UN agency expects international tourist arrivals to grow by between three and five percent compared to the previous year in 2025.
Given this situation, “Spain wants to continue promoting the modernization of the sector within the institution—triple sustainability, business competitiveness, and equitable distribution of benefits—to better address the challenges in the medium and long term.”
