Tag Archives: Secretary General

UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili joined Iran’s President, His Excellency Ebrahim Raisi, in opening the 17th edition of the Exhibition. At the leading event, UN Tourism reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Iran grow its tourism sector through promotion and investments, while also supporting the country in educating a new generation of tourism workers. Mr Pololikashvili also met with the Mayor of Tehran, Ali Reza Zakani, with bilateral talks focusing on working together to make the city a more attractive destination both for tourists and for investors. The Secretary-General of UN Tourism has concluded an official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Zurab Pololikashvili led a high-level delegation to the country to join the official inauguration of the Tehran International Tourism Exhibition and for a series of bilateral meetings to advance common goals around tourism resilience, diversity and rural development. The Secretary-General explored the Tehran International Tourism Exhibition alongside Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, Ezzatollah Zarghami and Deputy Minister Dr. Ali Asghar Shalbafian. The UN Tourism leadership commended their hard work building the sector, with particular recognition of how tourism is celebrating Iran’s diverse ethnic groups and traditions while also providing a common vision for the future of the country. Representing UN Tourism’s growing Affiliate Members network, the CEO of Abbas Abad Cultural and Tourism Area, Seyed Hossein Hejazi, also met with Secretary-General Pololikashvili to make clear the role the private sector is playing in advancing shared goals. In line with the Organization’s emphasis on rural development, Governor Malek Rahmati was presented with a plaque to commemorate Kandovan being included in the list of Best Tourism Villages by UN Tourism. The significant potential for growing tourism as a pillar …

A total of 15 airlines from the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) have entered into a 10-year framework agreement with Amadeus for distribution services, negotiated and led by the Arab Air Carriers Association (AACO). The airlines participating in the framework agreement to date carried 110 million passengers in 2016, meaning that these airlines will serve over 1 billion passengers during the 10-year duration of the agreement. For the participating AACO airlines, the partnership will drive economies of scale, technological efficiencies and support the airlines’ vision for distribution in the future. Abdul Wahab Teffaha, Secretary General, AACO commented, “This long-term agreement represents a landmark for a number of AACO members with a technology partner dedicated to supporting new business strategies.” Julia Sattel, Senior Vice President, Airlines, Amadeus, said, “We are proud to further deepen our partnership with AACO and its member airlines. Amadeus’ focus on innovation and technology, combined with a partnership approach were in close alignment with the requirements identified by the members of AACO’s taskforce for future distribution strategies.”

The final day of WTM London 2017 concluded with WTM Festivals, allowing visitors to experience the culture, hospitality and cuisine of the Caribbean, Tokyo, Indonesia, Ecuador, Bulgaria, Ghana, Senegal and Brazil. Pertinent issues such as Brexit, overtourism and development were debated among the tourism ministers’ agenda. The annual UNWTO and WTM Ministers Summit debated strategies to cope with overtourism, which is threatening the tourism trade in destinations such as Barcelona, Venice and Amsterdam. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General, UNWTO, said there have been many protests against overtourism in 2017, with slogans such as “tourists go home” and “tourists are terrorists.” He warned, “We cannot continue to build five-star hotels in three-star communities. We need to diversify visitors’ activities, reduce seasonality and raise awareness of less busy destinations.” WTM brought together the leadership of the International Hotel Investment Forum and WTM London’s expertise to create an exclusive platform for ministers and investors in travel destination development. Keith Evans, Vice President Hotels, Starwood Capital, highlighted Greece’s potential, “There’s a good strong fundamental tour infrastructure; Greece is setting itself up as a market that has an interesting few years ahead.”

The Dubai Free Zones Council and the Federal Tax Authority organised a workshop on Value-Added Tax (VAT), to be implemented in the UAE from 2018. More than 70 representatives of companies operating across Dubai’s various free zones participated in the event. With the aim of helping free zone entities fulfil their tax obligations, the workshop provided an overview of VAT and related mechanisms, the implementation timeline, products and services it will cover, as well as tax-exempt sectors. The session clarified the impact of the new tax law on activities such as bookkeeping as well as on the preparation of invoices and other financial documents. Dr Mohammed Alzarooni, Secretary General of the Dubai Free Zones Council, stressed on the importance of the workshop for enabling entities operating in the free zones to prepare for full compliance with the new tax legislation. He said, “Companies must take effective measures to adapt their operations, financial management and information systems to the new tax environment. The necessary changes are also set to impact professional capacities – accountants will need additional training and the job market may see a surge in tax adviser vacancies.”

The Philippines is all set to host top tourism officials from 156 countries for the 6th United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) International Conference on Tourism Statistics next month. The conference will be held from June 21-24 at the Marriot Hotel Grand Ballroom of the Resorts World Manila in Pasay City. This conference, bearing the theme “Measuring Sustainable Tourism”, will be highlighted by a ministerial roundtable of Tourism Ministers, Environment Ministers and Chief Statisticians. The opening ceremony will be presided by Dr Taleb Rafai, the UNWTO Secretary General; Wanda Corazon Tulfo-Teo, Secretary, Department of Tourism, Philippines and Ernesto M. Pernia, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary, National Economic and Development Authority, Philippines. In addition to the government representatives from 156 member countries, expected in attendance are more than 1500 affiliate members representing the private sector, educational institutions and tourism associations.