Further advancing UN Tourism’s leading role in these two key pillars of change, the Global Investment and Innovation Forum welcomed Ministers of Tourism, alongside key players from global finance and business. Alongside UN Tourism, the Forum was supported by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, ProColombia, Invest in Cartagena and CAF (the Investment Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean). Underscoring the high-level discussions was a recognition of the vital need to increase investment into the sector while at the same time injecting it with new ideas and energy through promoting innovation at every level.
Opening the Forum, UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: There is both an urgency and an opportunity to build sustainable and inclusive destinations that support local economies, empower communities, and preserve their invaluable cultural heritage. This Forum makes clear the vital importance of connections: both between public and private sector players and also between countries, to increase and better direct investments into tourism, and to accelerate its digital transformation, with innovation at the heart of everything we do.
In a show of high-level political support for UN Tourism’s work, Colombian President Gustavo Petro addressed the Forum. President Petro made clear the important role the sector is playing in diversifying the country’s economy while also advancing goals around sustainability. To further advance this potential, he said, We not only need money, we need innovation and a lot of it. And innovation has to focus on the decarbonization of tourism activities, integrally. Colombia can replace its coal and oil currencies in large part with tourism, and we would move forward.
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, Luis Carlos Reyes, said: This 122nd Session of the Executive Council of UN Tourism was proof that as a country, we have the capacity to work together to carry out events of great magnitude. It has also been a very productive three days, in which we have shown the world our commitment to strengthening community-based, sustainable and environmentally responsible tourism. Tourism can be the central axis for the protection of nature, and we are pleased that the countries that are part of this Council share this purpose.
UN Tourism Executive Director Natalia Bayona said: More investments and greater innovation are essential to take tourism to the next level. They can unlock many new opportunities, for businesses, jobs and building more resilience and inclusivity. Colombia shines as a top example of how investment in tourism really delivers, not least for rural communities, for women, youth and post-conflict societies.
Partnerships the key
UN Tourism serves as the bridge, connecting governments and destinations with investors of all sizes. In Cartagena, the Forum put the spotlight on such collaboration, with a Leaders’ Dialogue emphasizing the role partnerships can play in driving growth and transforming tourism. Joining Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Tourism of Bahrain, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Zambia,
The Forum also provided a platform for enhanced cooperation between global regions. High-level conversations focused on investment strategies for tourism, including the growing relevance of free zones, financial instruments and reformed governance as a means of increasing levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) into tourism, both in the Americas and globally.
Investing in Colombia,“Land of Beauty”
The hosts of the Forum, Colombia, stands out as a leading destination for tourism investments. Between 2018 and 2023, 1 billion US dollars were invested in tourism projects in Colombia. That has made Colombia the second-largest destination for tourism investments in the whole of the Latin American and Caribbean region. Furthermore, this strong level of investment has helped to created more than 4,700 jobs in the sector over the same period.
To better showcase the country’s significant potential on the global stage, UN Tourism officially presented its updated guidelines, “Tourism Doing Business: Investing in Colombia”. They provide a comprehensive overview of investment infrastructure and systems in the country, outlining opportunities for growth as well as potential challenges and solutions for overcoming them. UN Tourism Executive Director Natalia Bayona said: Colombia, the Country of Beauty is also a land of opportunity for investors. Its tourism sector is one of the strongest in the whole region, with new projects set to create many thousands more jobs and drive further economic growth.
Also in Cartagena, the “Tourism Investment 2024: Global Greenfield Investment Trends in Tourism” report was launched, a joint collaboration between the FT and UN Tourism, which provides an unrivalled global picture of where the sector is going, including new areas of growth and opportunity for investors.
Innovation for the future of tourism
Alongside the huge importance of investments, the Forum made clear the key role that innovation will play in shaping the future of tourism, including through offering more inclusive and resilient growth. Highlighting the huge pool of talent across the Americas, UN Tourism celebrated the finalists of its Innovation in Green Projects Challenge, organized with CAF. The Challenge attracted ideas from more than 500 young entrepreneurs more than 20 countries from across Latin America and the Caribbean. Of them, more than 180 are based in Colombia. Natoure, from Mexico, which promotes innovation for nature conservation, was named as the winner.
Also looking to the future, a concluding panel on Innovation and Leadership, focused on the part future generations will play in transforming tourism, emphasizing the need to nurture young talent today through education, training and funding and networking opportunities.
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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