Tourism Breaking News
UNWTO will be celebrating World Tourism Day under the theme Tourism and Green Investments from 27th to 28th September in Riyadh Saudi Arabia with its call to action to the international community, governments, multilateral financial institutions, development partners and private sector investors to unite around a new tourism investment strategy. UNWTO has identified investments as one of the key priorities for tourism’s recovery and future growth and development. For World Tourism Day 2023, UNWTO highlights the need for more and better-targeted investments for people, for planet and for prosperity. Now is the time for new and innovative solutions, not just traditional investments that promote and underpin economic growth and productivity.
Investing in People: Prioritizing Education and Upscaling Skills
“Education is a fundamental human right. It’s the bedrock of societies, economies, and every person’s potential. But without adequate investment, this potential will wither on the vine” – Secretary-General of the UN, on the occasion of the International day of Education (2023).
The crisis has revealed the need to rethink the structure of tourism economies to improve competitiveness and build resilience and accelerate the implementation of SDG 4 (quality education). To that end, the sector should invest in education and skills development, including for women, in all areas to promote added value jobs and resilience. We cannot build a more sustainable tourism without the right talent.
Tourism is one of the world’s leading employers. In 2019, the sector employed one in 10 people worldwide and has proven to be a tool for economic diversification and a major employment engine with a multiplier effect on other sectors that contribute to rural development. Furthermore, tourism in rural areas can particularly benefit traditionally disadvantaged groups such as women
– who make up 54% of the workforce in the tourism sector compared to 39% for the whole economy – youth and Indigenous people. Tourism is also an easy access sector for micro and small enterprises and for the self-employed, who make up a significant part of the tourism sector and community-level entrepreneurship in general.
However, in emerging destinations, 50% of young people are unable to work in tourism due to lack of opportunity, resources or access to academic training. Furthermore, current education and training opportunities are unbalanced, with a heavy emphasis on hotel management. Looking ahead, the global tourism workforce will require millions of hospitality graduates annually between now and 2030 and a further 800,000 jobs a year will require specific vocational training1.
For these reasons we need to invest in people as they are the foundation of tourism and his is why UNWTO is dedicated to empowering them and placing investments into the heart of our future actions.
