Mountainlikers: Sustainability and wellbeing, the keys to mountain tourism will be the theme of the 12th edition of the World Congress on Snow, Mountain and Wellness Tourism, which will take place on 20-22 March in Andorra within the framework of the United Nations’ Five Years of Action for the Development of Mountain Regions".

To address the main topics, the meeting will focus on health and wellness tourism, sustainability, the promotion of premium tourism in mountain areas, emerging tourism products and the training and recruitment of human talent.

On this occasion, UN Tourism will present its recent report prepared together with the Mountain Partnership (MP) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Understanding and Quantifying Mountain Tourism. Best Tourism Villages by UN Tourism awardees will also be represented by Saas-Fee of the Swiss region of Valais (BTV in 2021), St. Anton am Arlberg of Austria (BTV 2023) and Ordino of Andorra (BTV in 2023).

Reflecting the demand of today’s tourist

This year, as a new element, the Congress will focus on the theme of "wellbeing", reflecting the demand of today’s tourists and the need to adapt offerings to new trends among travellers and to the challenges posed for mountain destinations by the need for diversification and the advance of climate change.

Organized by the Government of Andorra and UN Tourism, with the collaboration of the Comú (municipal government) of Encamp, the Congress also has the support of other municipalities in Andorra and two main sponsors: Andorra Telecom as technological sponsor and Creand Crèdit Andorrà as silver sponsor.

Experiences in the implementation of "wellness tourism" will be featured by speakers such as Lászlo Puczko, CEO of Health Tourism Worldwide, Joan Muro, President of the Health Tourism Association of Andorra Health Destination, and Emma Haefeli, Marketing Director of CHENOT GROUP (Switzerland), among others.

Another topic to be discussed will be that of "spa tourism", with a view to further developing this segment in mountain areas with the participation in the Congress of Csilla Mezősi, Secretary-General of the European Spas Association.

Sustainability will also be a key subject, with interventions such as that of Javier Corso, who will present the project that National Geographic has carried out together with Andorra Turisme to manage the impact of the sector on the environment and on people entitled: Andorra al natural, el entorno en el que germinan las ideas (Andorra in its natural state: an environment where ideas germinate). Javier Corso is a National Geographic Explorer, a distinction that is only accorded to a handful of people around the world who work to protect the planet.

Education and capacity building will also have a prominent place in this edition of the Congress, where Rui Zhou, President of the Bella Vista Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland, together with María Abellanett, President of CETT in Barcelona, will discuss the human resources challenges and needs in mountain tourism for the near future.

Sport will be another prominent theme, to be developed by David Astrié, Director of Icònic Andorra, who will present the medical-sports residential centre that aims to become a European and world leader for sports training at altitude. Successful experiences of representatives from Best of the Alps, Lech Zürs Tourism (Austria), the Pyrenees and Pic du Midi Agency (France) will also be highlighted.

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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
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