Opinion

UNWTO Taleb Rifai calls emergency meeting at General Assembly

Juergen Steinmetz
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It has been a tough week for World Tourism and the challenges are still developing. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the  World Tourism Organization will take an opportunity when welcoming more than 1000 top tourism officials to Chengdu, China next week and called for an emergency meeting to discuss the impact of recent Hurricanes to the travel and tourism industry and the future of tourism Caribbean member nations.

Rifai took an excellent opportunity and shined as a very much respected leader of world tourism and showed immediate action. He is doing what leaders in his position are expected to do – he leads.

Encouraged by the Head of the ST-EP Foundation, Ambassador Dho Young-shim from Korea (former UNWTO Secretary General Candiate), who brought up an initiative to reach out to UNWTO members in the Caribbean in response to Hurricane Irma, today UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai who is believed to be in Korea issued this statement:

“UNWTO is deeply saddened by the tragic effects brought by Hurricane Irma across the Caribbean

“On behalf of the international tourism community, UNWTO conveys its heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims and stands ready to support the affected countries, where tourism is a pillar in the lives of so many people, to recover as swiftly as possible,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.
 
“UNWTO will work alongside the affected countries in all the necessary measures to support them and trust that as in previous occasion the people of these countries will show their resilience as life gets back to normal and they open for business” added Mr Rifai.
 
“UNWTO is conveying a special meeting to address the impacts of Hurricane Irma and the way forward on the occasion of its 22nd General Assembly taking place next week in China. The Assembly is expected to gather over 1000 participants from around the world.”