UNWTO and Pacific Asia Travel Association Focus on Sustainable Future for Tourism
UNWTO has once again partnered with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) to guide the development of tourism across the region.
For its 17th edition, the 2023 UNWTO-PATA Forum (Guilin, China, 26-27 October) put the focus on maximizing the sector's ability to drive growth, build economic resilience and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. The Forum is the consolidated leading platform for policymakers, business leaders and a range of tourism stakeholders in Asia and the Pacific.
People, Planet and Prosperity
With co-organizers the Guilin Municipal People's Government and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region's Department of Culture and Tourism, as well as with Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Forum explored the best ways of introducing greater sustainability into every level of the tourism ecosystem. Among other areas, discussions centred on priorities including trends, innovation and technology, education and skills, and green investments.
The two-day event featured keynote interventions from UNWTO officials, alongside expert inputs from National Tourism Administrations, National Tourism Organizations and Destination Management Organizations, government officials, NGOs, industry practitioners. The trends, insights, research findings and practices, will be used to develop policies focused on greater sustainability while also raising awareness promote awareness and education about sustainable tourism among forum attendees and the broader general public, including through the more effective use of data.
The Forum also featured a high-level technical session organized by UNWTO around the theme of "Rethinking Tourism in post-pandemic times: understanding and adapting to new trends," and a panel discussion focused on strengthening collaboration between public and private actors. Within the framework of the Forum, UNWTO officials met with key officials from the region, including the Secretary of CPC Committee and the Mayor of Guilin and with representatives of the Hongkong Polytechnic University.
About UN Tourism
The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.
Our Priorities
Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.
Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.
Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.
Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.
Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.
Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.
Our Structure
Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.
Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.
Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.
UN Tourism Communications Department
+34 91 567 8100
UN Tourism
