At the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit, which took place last week in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Zurab Pololikashvili said: “This year, we brought tourism to the UN General Assembly for the first time and we have also put tourism on the G20 agenda. That is why I am here: UNWTO can be your voice at the global governance level.”

This follows calls from industry for tourism to be better represented at the global table of the G20, again emphasised by a panel at WTM London recently.

UNWTO also stressed the vital importance of education and investments in ensuring that tourism fulfilled its enormous potential as a driver of sustainable and inclusive development.

Pololikashvili stressed that skills development was “an investment in the future, to build the tourism sector we need”.

Saudi Arabia is a strong supporter of UNWTO’s mission to make tourism a driver of sustainable and inclusive development. The organisation opened its first regional office for the Middle East in May 2021 in Riyadh, which is set to become a regional and global hub of tourism education and training as well as of tourism for rural development.