Source: UN Tourism
Source: UN Tourism

Since the first Forum was held in 2012, the two organizations have partnered around promoting closer links between governments and tourism’s private sector. Building on this success, UNWTO and GTEF have announced plans for a revamped and enhanced annual Forum to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the event in Macau, China (21 September). The location of subsequent Forums will then alternate between Macau and a different host country, to be jointly selected by UNWTO and GTEF.

Announcing the plans in Lisbon, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: UNWTO is proud to work with the Global Tourism Economic Forum to unite governments and private sector leaders and address the biggest challenges and opportunities facing our sector today. We look forward to building on our successful partnership in 2023 and beyond.

Pansy Ho, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General, GTEF, said: In response to China’s policies in supporting enterprises to ‘go global’, we will stage the GTEF, an international platform, overseas every other year. Looking forward to the future, we believe that mainland China, Macao, and even the world can benefit from the event.

Tourism for Business and Development

The 10th edition of GTEF will be held around the theme of Destination 2030: Unlocking Tourism for Business and Development. It will bring together Governments as well as leaders from across the public and private sectors to further establish the Forum as the premier annual event for public-private partnerships and tourism for business growth and development.

Also in Lisbon, UNWTO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Global Tourism Economy Research Centre (GTERC), the coordinator of GTEF, to work together to identify areas of future cooperation. Joining UNWTO Secretary-General Pololikashvili for the announcement were Ho Iat Seng, Chief Executive of Macao SAR; Zhao Bentang, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Portuguese Republic, and Nuno Fazenda, Secretary of State for Tourism, Trade and Services, Portugal.

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About UN Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Our Priorities

Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.

Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.

Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.

Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.

Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.

Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.

Our Structure

Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.

Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.

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