SUNx & EXO Foundation Announce Climate Scholarship Program for SE Asia “A Plan for our Kids”
An SDG 17 Partnership, for Climate-Friendly Travel, was announced on 14th December at COP 24 in Katowice, Poland.
The partnership between EXO Foundation who support Sustainable Development projects through responsible tourism in South East Asia and SUNx the Strong Universal Network, a legacy program for Maurice Strong responding to eXistential Climate Change.
It focusses on a shared commitment to develop the Maurice Strong Legacy Scholarship Program, under the SUNx “Plan for Our Kids” with EXO Foundation as the first regional sponsor.
Speaking from the COP 24, the UNFCCC Climate Change conference Professor Geoffrey Lipman, co-founder of SUNx said:
“We are delighted to announce our partnership with EXO Foundation as our first regional sponsor of our “ Plan for our Kids” and its Maurice Strong Legacy Scholarship Program. Together we have identified an opportunity to help strengthen education on Climate Resilience for Travel & Tourism in South-East Asia. Through our partnership EXO Foundation is supporting the lifetime learning of 21 graduates committed to Sustainable Tourism Development, with a focus on Climate Friendly Travel.
Our strategy is to create a cadre of 100,000 next generation of “Strong Climate Champions” by 2030, to help to drive the behavioural change and influence the fundamental government and industry actions needed to tackle Climate Change.
Strong Climate Champions will be graduates, who engage in the movement for Climate Friendly Travel, for transformation to the New Climate Economy. They will help to build the thinking; drive the behaviour, identify innovations and influence the fundamental government and industry actions needed.”
Lipman added that “The awardees, based on 1000-word essays on practical aspects of Climate Friendly Travel, will be linked with EXO Foundation through a certificate of excellence and lifetime access to the SUNx learning platform. This includes curated information on Climate Resilience, and a Climate Friendly Travel Course, supporting transformation of the sector to the New Climate Economy.”
Alexandra Michat, EXO Foundation Manager said:
“The vision of EXO Foundation is to use tourism to make destinations better places for people to live in, and for travellers to visit. We aim to be a driving force in actively fostering sustainable development and improving positive societal and environmental changes through the promotion of responsible tourism. Through our partnership with SUNx we want to support the next generation of climate change activists who will help shape the future of the Travel industry in SE Asia. Together we will identify academic partners to promote the call for nominations and support their work on Climate Resilience education to Tourism students.”
Caribbean Tourism Organization declares 2019 ‘The Year of Festivals’ in the Caribbean
On the heels of the past year’s successful Year of Rejuvenation, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has declared 2019 the Year of Festivals in the Caribbean. Throughout 2019, the region will celebrate the unique rhythm and tempo of each CTO destination.
“The Year of Festivals will focus on the fascinating events that have become an integral part of the Caribbean tourism calendar. Festivals help to energize communities across the region, while giving visitors more reasons to enjoy our destinations,” said Hugh Riley, Secretary General of CTO.
“In addition to providing an opportune time for vacationers to visit, these celebrations also emphasize the unique characteristics that define the many diverse backgrounds and traditions which comprise the Caribbean’s cultural tapestry,” added Riley.
The 2019 Caribbean Year of Festivals will be promoted through social media and traditional media channels and will create opportunities for travellers and vacation planners to share their experiences.
“While each destination is unique and inviting in its own right, the common denominator for all Caribbean societies is a yearning to celebrate life – and each Caribbean country provides a beat that can’t be replicated elsewhere,” said Riley.
“The Year of Festivals will highlight music, art, sailing, lights, food, rum, religious, literary and dance festivals celebrated throughout the region. It’s a theme which can easily be embraced by all CTO member destinations,” Riley noted.
Throughout 2019, the CTO will assist member countries with an assortment of promotional concepts and opportunities which can be implemented around the theme of festivals to appeal to consumers, travel professionals and creators of unique vacation experiences.
UNWTO and Unidigital support innovation and entrepreneurship in the Americas
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) provided its support at the inauguration in Argentina of the first specialized hub for tourism in the Americas – Unidigital.
Unidigital is the result of the collaboration between the public and private sectors to promote innovation in tourism. It will offer services, products and training in digital transformation in order to allow the most disruptive entrepreneurs in tourism in the Americas to develop their projects. The Hub was presented as part of the UNWTO Tourism Tech Adventure Forum, held on 11-13 December 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“Today is a historic day because we have brought together many tourism authorities of the Americas to inaugurate this place, which is open to any entrepreneur, and where together we will do very interesting things and achieve excellent results,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. He added: “We are committed to helping them find investors and give them the opportunity to internationalize not only in the Americas, but also beyond the continent.”
The Minister of Tourism of Argentina and Chair of the UNWTO Executive Council, Gustavo Santos, stressed that “innovation and tourism are allies in generating life opportunities for our people and creating employment”. He added: “This reaffirms our commitment and responsibility towards this sector, which will lead human development in the years to come.”
Unidigital founder and CEO Felipe Durán thanked the authorities for their presence and said: “I am excited for Buenos Aires to be the gateway to the Americas, a place where art, technology and tourism come together; with our projects we are going to get involved in people’s tourism.”
The Unidigital Hub opened in the context of the UNWTO Tourism Adventure Tech Forum, the tourism and technology forum organized by the UNWTO and the Ministry of Tourism of Argentina. The winner of the UNWTO Data Challenge 2018 was also announced at the event, Diego Turconi. This project is organized in collaboration with the ieXL of IE University, whose objective is to demonstrate the ability to generate data-driven solutions.
The regional Startup Competition was won by Eduardo Zenteno del Toro, with his Nenemi project, a platform that seeks to bring Asian travellers to Mexico with potential for expansion in the Americas. He will now have the opportunity to avail Unidigital’s services valued at up to 100,000 dollars.
Participating in the UNWTO Tourism Tech Adventure Forum are leaders in innovation, top-level startups and key actors in the global innovation and digital transformation ecosystem.
It is an unprecedented platform for entrepreneurship and tourism innovation, with the aim of creating synergies between the different actors, exchanging success stories and fostering a venture capital investment culture. Likewise, this space provides solutions to challenges related to digital transformation as a source of employment generation, competitiveness and sustainable development.
In this same context, a seminar aimed at ministers of the Americas and Argentine national ministers was held on how to build successful digitalization strategies. A workshop for startups was also held, addressing the subject of motivation for tourism investors and entrepreneurship.