Morocco to Host 24th General Assembly

In St Petersburg, UNWTO Member States voted for the Kingdom of Morocco to hold the 24th Session of the General Assembly in 2021. For the first time at a UNWTO General Assembly, Member States used electronic voting system, bringing UNWTO in line with the wider United Nations system. Morocco was chosen ahead of Kenya and the Philippines after all three Member States had put forward strong cases for hosting the most important high-level event in global tourism. Congratulations, Morocco, and see you in Marrakech!

As Member States met in St Petersburg, the Bahamas was still busy assessing the damage caused by Hurricane Dorian. Addressing the General Assembly, Jamaica’s Tourism Minister, the Honorable Edmund Bartlett, expressed his support for the Bahamas, one of the Caribbean’s most popular tourist destinations, noting that much of the country was unaffected by the hurricane and still open to visitors. At the same time, during the first Plenary Session, Minister Bartlett called on fellow Member States to join him in pledging to help countries hit by crisis, whether man-made or natural. Delegates signalled their unanimous support for this.

UNWTO is currently working with several Member States, helping them recover from downturns in tourism numbers caused by crisis. The UNWTO Communications Department is gearing up to offer more specialist support for countries affected by disaster, with a new emergency communications training programme to be launched soon.

UNWTO’s Member States unanimously welcomed Palau as a full Member at the General Assembly. The Pacific nation is made up of 240 islands and is committed to growing its tourism sector in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Running right through the 23rd General Assembly in St Petersburg has been the topic of film and tourism. At the start of the Assembly, Spanish entrepreneur and President of Atlético de Madrid football cub Enrique Cerezo joined fellow experts to discuss the film industry’s close links with tourism and its shared values and benefits, including bringing people together and creating jobs and opportunities for all. Building on this, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili will take part in Cineposium, a leading international event around the world of cinema and visual production taking place back to back to the General Assembly.

Celebrating the role of film in promoting destinations and sustainable tourism, the General Assembly also saw the awarding of the first prize for “Exceptional Stories of Sustainable Tourism” during the Video Competition of the General Assembly. Chile won the new award, with the jury of leading journalists and media professionals applauding their clear demonstration of how tourism can help preserve traditional ways of life. Awards for Outstanding Country Promotional Videos were presented to: Tunisia, Mexico, India, Greece and Portugal