The Diplomat
Institutional and private sector representatives from more than 100 countries, including half a hundred ministers, attended yesterday’s central celebration of World Tourism Day in Riyadh.
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili stressed that this year’s celebration of World Tourism Day, under the theme “Green Tourism and Investment,” is the largest to date and shows the diversity of the sector.
As he said during his speech, now is the time for “innovative solutions and not just traditional investments that promote and support economic growth and productivity.”
Pololikashvili insisted that, nevertheless, investments, within the framework of a new public-private strategy, are one of the key priorities for the recovery of tourism and its future growth and development, highlighting those oriented to people, planet and prosperity.
The UNWTO Secretary-General also underscored the transformation that Saudi Arabia has undergone in recent years, adding that tourism has played, and continues to play, an essential role in this transformation.
The Saudi Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Al Khateeb, announced during the celebration the launch of the project to establish a large Tourism and Hospitality school in Riyadh, in collaboration with the UNWTO, which is the result of two years of joint work. The school, he said, will not focus solely on hotel operations, as 80% of such training centers do, but will create a program that reflects the diversity of the tourism sector.
UNWTO will support the development of the school at every stage and use its huge network to give it greater reach and reputation, said Pololikashvili, who encouraged the private sector to join the initiative. “Let’s make public-private partnerships lead the change in tourism education. Once again, investing in people is the best investment we can make,” he concluded.
Since 1980, World Tourism Day is celebrated annually on September 27, which coincides with the anniversary of the adoption in 1970 of the statutes of the United Nations (UN) World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
