Gloria Guevara, President & CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) today congratulated HE Zurab Pololikashvili on his election to the role of Secretary General of the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

Speaking from Chengdu, China, at the UNWTO General Assembly, Ms Guevara said: “On behalf of WTTC and its Members I congratulate Mr Pololikashvili on his election to the role of Secretary General of UNWTO. It is a position of enormous importance to our sector and I look forward to working with him as he will take the organization to the next phase.

The close collaboration between WTTC and UNWTO over the past eight years has resulted in a more unified and cohesive international Travel & Tourism sector, where understanding and cooperation between the public and private sectors has increased considerably. I look forward to continuing this path into the future, where together we highlight the importance of Travel & Tourism for the social and economic development of the world community.

Ms Guevara added: “We are at a critical moment in the development of our sector, where ambitious growth targets need to satisfy not only economic but also environmental and social objectives. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders in the sector to work together to ensure that Travel & Tourism, which accounts for 10% of the world’s GDP and 1 in 10 jobs, continues to be a force for good in our world.”