UNWTO joins tourism ministers in calling upon G20 leaders to prioritise tourism
IN HIS meeting with the President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, and current G20 Chair, United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili stressed the capacity of tourism to create jobs and the need to advance the adaptation of the sector to the digital transformation.
The 8th Meeting of the Tourism Ministers of the G20 Economies was held in Buenos Aires on April 17, under Argentine’s presidency of the G20 with a focus on the ‘Future of Work – Tourism’s Leading Role in Sustainable Development: a Driver for Employment’.
In line with the priorities of Argentine’s G20 presidency, which includes the ‘Future of Work’, the meeting focused on how tourism can embrace innovation and technology and foster new skills development to create new decent jobs.
“We need to promote the role that tourism has in shaping the future of our world as the sector that will create more jobs in the coming decade” said the Minister of Tourism of Argentina, Gustavo Santos, opening the meeting.
Ambassador Daniel Raimondi, Argentina’s vice minister of foreign affairs and worship, stressed the future of work as one of Argentine’s G20 priorities and its link to tourism, a sector that is key to creating jobs, developing infrastructure, and exports.
“Let us embrace the technological revolution and unleash its potential to create more and better jobs in our sector, making tourism a true pillar of the G20 objectives of inclusive and sustained growth” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili in his opening remarks to the meeting.
Ministers of tourism of the G20 economies agreed to consider the following:
Encourage policies that promote full and productive employment and facilitate the progress of innovation in tourism and foster the creation of decent jobs, sustainable enterprises, and entrepreneurship, in particular among women and the youth;
Establish favourable frameworks to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship and connect ecosystems linking start-ups, main companies, investors, and governments along the tourism value chain;
Create cooperation mechanisms among educational institutions at all levels, the private sector, governments, and technology partners to review educational programmes and skills development policies;
Consider the importance of SMEs in the tourism, heritage, and cultural sectors due to their contribution to job creation as well as their role in preserving and promoting cultural resources;
Promote the use of digital technology to facilitate travel as well as involve technology stakeholders in national tourism policies
In 2016, G20 countries received 904 million international tourist arrivals, which generated over US$ 1 trillion or 6.3 per cent of all G20 exports.
The Government of Japan will host the 9th Meeting of the Tourism Ministers of the G20 Economies in Kutchan Town, Hokkaido, in 2019.