UN Tourism Members Advance Agenda for Europe as Region Leads Global Recovery
Europe’s national tourism authorities have met to advance shared solutions to the biggest challenges facing tourism as well as the opportunities offered by the sector’s post-pandemic return.
The 70th meeting of the UN Tourism Commission for Europe brought together 40 high-level representatives in the Albanian capital. With the participation of nearly all UN Tourism’s Members in the region, the meeting served as a platform for dialogue and collaboration, providing a ground for exchanging knowledge, sharing best practices, and addressing the challenges and opportunities facing the tourism sector.
Albania leads Europe’s tourism rebound
Prior to the meeting, UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili met with the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama to discuss shared priorities and future collaboration. The Secretary General has commended Albania’s leadership in tourism recovery after the pandemic – the country has been one of the best performing destinations in 2023, showing 53% increase over the international tourism arrivals registered in 2019.
The Secretary-General and the Prime Minister also discussed the importance of sustainable tourism development and opportunities to further enhance the tourism sector in Albania. They exchanged views on key strategies to promote responsible tourism practices, harness digital innovation, and further contribute to economic growth through tourism education. They underscored the value of fostering a resilient and inclusive tourism industry that benefits local communities and preserves cultural heritage.
Legal framework for the Agenda for Europe
High-level delegations representing 40 Members were informed about the work and activities realized by UN Tourism since the Commission met in Bulgaria in June 2023, as well as strategic objectives and priorities, with a focus on:
- Political outlook and the situation Europe
- The rebranding of World Tourism Organization
- Latest data on tourism arrivals and receipts
- Events and initiatives
In Tirana, Members adopted the Rules of Procedure of the Working Group, the Selection Criteria and Key Performance Indicators for the evaluation for the projects supported through the Agenda for Europe and agreed on the priorities for the elaboration of the workplan of the Agenda for 2024. The Agenda for Europe is the manifestation of the priorities of the members in the region of Europe, the world's leading destination and a pioneer in tourism innovation. It aims to ensure a regional focus that will benefit and address the specific needs of the members at a regional and subregional level.
This document is the result of a consultative process among the members in the region, initiated during the 66th meeting of the Commission for Europe in 2021, to advance the adaptability of the European tourism ecosystem to the new trends and reality that emerged in the post-pandemic era.
Moving forward
The Commission Members were updated about the preparations for World Tourism Day 2024 by Georgia and accepted the invitation of Azerbaijan to host the Commission meeting in 2025.
Subregional focus
The second meeting of the Working Group for Southeast Europe was held on the sidelines of the 70th meeting of the Commission for Europe, by the initiative of the host, Albania, and UN Tourism. The purpose of the meeting was to foster an in-depth discussions on the specific challenges facing the tourism sector in Southeast Europe. Representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia shared their ideas, insights, and opinions, with a special focus on short-term rentals and regional investments.
Tomorrow, a traditional side conference will be held about “Tourism Investments and Economic Development in Europe”. During this event, a guideline “Tourism Doing Business: Investing in Albania”, developed by UN Tourism, will be presented. The speakers, experts, and other participants of the event will discuss the global tourism investments trends and opportunities, identify avenues for accelerating tourism investments for positive change and for the benefit for all and share success stories and future prospects of tourism investments in Albania.
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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.
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