Zambia new Chair of UNWTO Executive Council
Zambia has assumed chairmanship of the world global tourism body’s executive council during the current session of meetings taking place in Manama, Bahrain.
Ambassador Designate Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France, Dr. Christine Kaseba, has presented her Letters of Credence to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili, at a special session in Bahrain.
Zambia becomes the second African country since 2010 to chair the UNWTO Executive Council with Ambassador Kaseba, the Permanent Representative to the UNWTO, leading proceedings at the ongoing 109th session on behalf of Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Mr. Charles Banda.
During her presentation of credentials held on Tuesday, October 30, 2018, Ambassador Kaseba acknowledged the organization’s management vision and priorities of making tourism a key sector for the 2030 Agenda based on smart, competitive, and responsible tourism for sustainable development.
Ambassador Kaseba said the government has identified tourism, arts, and culture as some of the priority growth sectors of the national economy towards development in the National-Vision 2030 aimed at turning Zambia into a “prosperous middle-income country by the year 2030.”
She is the former First Lady, wife of the late President Sata.
The Ambassador added that tourism had also been identified as one of the priority areas for investment due to its numerous forward and backward linkages to various other sectors of the economy.
Receiving the Letters of Credence, the UNWTO Secretary-General expressed interest to visit Zambia and further pledged to enhance multilateral relations with the country.
UNWTO Agenda receives strong support at Executive Council
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) concluded its 109th Executive Council session in Manama, Bahrain today, with Members showing appreciation both for progress made under the 2018 institutional priorities and for the Organization’s financial stability and restructuring process. Tomorrow UNWTO will also introduce a forum named ‘Tourism Tech Adventure: Big Data Solutions, bringing together the ‘ecosystem’ of tourism innovation and raising the sector’s role in the digital agenda.
A successful 109th session of the UNWTO Executive Council brought with it much appreciation of the Organization’s efforts in 2018. A number of Member States expressed great support for UNWTO’s efforts to prioritize tourism in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The executive management team was praised for creating a cleaner structure more equipped to effectively respond to Members’ requests, as well as the clear management priorities and sharp focus placed on UNWTO’s work areas of education and digital transformation.
A mere ten months into the new mandate, UNWTO was able to communicate showing a financial surplus. At this point in the year, the Organization has received higher contributions than in the last three years and the highest percentage of budgetary income since 2014, with expenditure also on target.
UNWTO’s Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili gave thanks to Bahrain, the host country for the proceedings. “Being hosted in Bahrain is very relevant. Here you can see how innovation and being a smart destination can be positioned high on the political and economic agenda, and how supporting tourism education and capacity building is a sound investment”, he said.
On the margins of the Council UNWTO held a high-level workshop on data-driven tourism management. The Organization has introduced a new forum, ‘Tourism Tech Adventure: Big Data Solutions’, where panellists debate how open data platforms are revolutionizing tourism, along with how to stimulate venture capital and greater gender equality in tourism and technology.
‘Tourism Tech Adventure: Big Data Solutions’ will also welcome another round of pitches for finalists of the 1st UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition in Collaboration with Globalia, launched in June 2018 to identify companies that can foster the sector’s digital transformation. The finalists’ projects will be presented at the next International Tourism Fair of Madrid (Fitur) in January 2019.
The forum serves as a follow-up to the official World Tourism Day 2018 celebrations on 27 September in Budapest, Hungary, under the theme of ‘Tourism and the Digital Transformation’, and a precursor to the upcoming UNWTO and World Travel Market ministerial summit in London, UK (6 November) on investment in tourism technology. All are part of UNWTO’s ongoing strategy to give tourism its deserved prominence on the digital agenda. Secretary-General Pololikashvili signed cooperation agreements during the Executive Council with the tourism authorities of Argentina and Portugal to strengthen UNWTO’s cooperation agenda on innovation in tourism.
Mr. Pololikashvili announced during the Council that UNWTO governing bodies’ meetings will have a specific overarching thematic focus each year. After 2018’s focus on digital transformation, 2019 will look at employment and education in line with the theme of World Tourism Day 2019: ‘Tourism and Jobs: a better future for all’.