UNWTO to hammer out strategies on sustainable tourism as FITUR Madrid returns
The United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) is keen to shift the focus of the tourism industry towards rural areas. With the return of The International Spanish Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR (19-23 May 2021), it will be exploring the possible travel and tourism trends post-pandemic.
What could be marked as the biggest innovation initiative ever launched by any part of the wider United Nations system. UNWTO recently organised a SDGs Start-up Competition in Royal Theatre in Madrid with the support of over 25 partners from across the global innovation ecosystem. The competition received more than 10,000 applications from 138 different countries with the claim of endeavouring to achieve one or more of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Startup Competition was held with the objective of winning investment for scaling up. The hybrid event celebrated the diversity of the award-winning ideas for advancing the sustainable development goals and the people behind them.
With The International Spanish Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR starting from 19 May in collaboration with UNWTO, the event will hold expert meetings of the stakeholders from the private sector, local and regional governments and academia to devise the strategies focused at Product and destination development, Education and skills, Social innovation and entrepreneurship and Rural development.
The 12th edition of the Tourism Investment and Business Forum for Africa (INVESTOUR) will be held virtually on Thursday 20 May. The gathering of public and private sector tourism leaders will focus on the development of effective strategic partnerships, and on assessing possible travel and tourism trends post-pandemic.
On the same day, UNWTO will also feature in FITUR Talent, highlighting the increasingly important role innovation can play in delivering tourism education and training for all. Similarly exploring the potential of technology to create opportunities, this time for destinations, the Round Table on Tourism and Cinema, will see UNWTO and Netflix come together to assess the role TV and film can play in promoting locations and experience.
Cover image by UNWTO
