UNWTO and European Commission Share Joint Vision for Tourism’s Future

Photo source: @UNWTO

The European Council on Thursday presented the conclusions of the European Tourism Agenda, which includes a multi-annual EU work plan to help stakeholders make the tourism sector greener and more sustainable, resilient and digitalised.

As highlighted by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the conclusions are built on several years of work around “Tourism in Europe for the Next Decade”, which inform a new Transition Pathway for the sector, developed by the European Commission in consultation with key stakeholders, including UNWTO.

“The Transition Pathway identifies specific intervention areas to boost the tourism eco-system in Europe. Several of the key intervention areas reflect the priorities of UNWTO, most notably a recognition of the importance of building and supporting a skilled and committed workforce,” the UNWTO said in an announcement.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili.

In a joint statement on Friday, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili and European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean welcomed the restart of international travel across the region.

However, they stress that tourism and transport need to “work together” to address the gap in tourism employment by making both sectors more attractive for workers.

“We need to work together – UNWTO, the European Commission, governments and employers – to make tourism an attractive sector to work in. That is, one that provides decent jobs, opportunities for women, for youth and for people living outside of big cities, and the possibility to grow professionally and develop skills that can be used either in tourism itself or in another field – because tourism’s capacity building provides skills for life,” Pololikashvili and Vălean say.

European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean.

Additionally, the joint statement notes the importance of investments in tourism as a means of accelerating the shift to greater resilience and sustainability.

UNWTO has made tourism education and training one of the priorities in recent years. Alongside this, UNWTO opened a first department focused on investments, emphasizing that to achieve its wider goals of becoming more resilient and sustainable, tourism first needs the financial and human capital in place.

The full statement by UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili and European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean can be read here.