UNWTO and WTTC signed an agreement: public and private join forces to overcome future challenges

The agreement signed in Goa, India, during the G20 ministerial meeting, between the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has rightly been hailed as a “historic agreement.” The two most important global organizations in the travel and tourism sector, representing the public and private sectors, have decided to join forces in an unprecedented partnership. The objective is to transform the industry and make it capable of meeting the new challenges in the years to come.

The focus of this collaboration will be on tourism sustainability, inclusion, interaction with local communities, addressing the personnel shortage issue, and, above all, managing the post-Covid recovery. Currently, the tourism sector is experiencing exceptional growth, accounting for 9.2% of global GDP and employing one in eleven people worldwide.

Joint commitment for the benefit of all

It is crucial to find the best way to manage this growth and guide it towards the future, and the memorandum of understanding signed in Goa is a step in that direction. “We are stronger only when we work together to address the new challenges our sector must face,” emphasized Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of UNWTO, who signed the document along with Julia Simpson, President, and CEO of WTTC. “Strong public-private partnerships are the foundation for transforming tourism and building resilience, and our partnership with WTTC will achieve exactly what we need: combining efforts to build a better future through tourism”.

“Together,” stated Julia Simpson, “the two organizations embark on a new chapter of cooperation, combining expertise to pave the way for a prosperous future in the travel and tourism sector”. The commitment is, therefore, to work towards common goals – investments, job creation, support for entrepreneurship, and talent development – jointly promoting tourism on global and national agendas. The signatories have no doubt that all stakeholders in the tourism industry, including travelers, businesses, and destinations, will benefit from this agreed-upon action.