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_01.jpg) UN Tourism headquarters, Madrid, Spain | |
| Abbreviation | UN Tourism |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1 November 1975 |
| Type | United Nations specialized agency |
| Legal status | Active |
| Headquarters | Madrid, Spain |
Membership | 160 Member States[1] |
Secretary-General | Zurab Pololikashvili |
Parent organization | United Nations |
| Website | www.unwto.org |
 Politics portal | |
UN Tourism (UNWTO until 2023) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which promotes responsible, sustainable and universally-accessible tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. Other offices include: a Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific in Nara, Japan[2] and a Regional Office for the Middle East in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
UN Tourism serves as a global forum for tourism policy and a source of tourism research and knowledge. It encourages tourism competitiveness, innovation, education, investments and digital transformation. The organization also focusses on ethics, culture and social responsibility related to tourism, provides technical cooperation and includes a UN Tourism Academy and statistics work.[3]
The six official languages of UN Tourism are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism stood at an all-time high: 1 out of 10 jobs worldwide depended on tourism and international tourist arrivals reached 1.5 billion in 2019. Against a backdrop of heightened uncertainty, UN Tourism conveyed the Global Tourism Crisis Committee to guide the tourism sector as it faced up to the COVID-19 challenge.
From its inception in 1975 until 2023, UN Tourism was called the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).[4]
- ^ "Member States". www.unwto.org. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
- ^ "UNWTO Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific". Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Home | UNWTO". www.unwto.org. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
- ^ "UNWTO Becomes "UN Tourism" to Mark A New Era for Global Sector". UN Tourism. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2024.