Tourism certainly has an irreplaceable role as a pillar of peace and understanding. For World Tourism Day 2024, UN Tourism brought together industry leaders from all regions around the world around a shared vision and commitment: building a “tourism sector concerned with promoting peace”given the capacity it has to build bridges and be a factor of understanding.
The official celebrations in Tbilisi (Georgia) brought together nearly 500 participants of 51 paysincluding 13 Ministers of Tourism. A sign of its deep attachment to this Day and to the chosen theme “Peace and tourism”, the host country was represented by the Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and seven other government ministers, clearly illustrating the transversal importance of the sector.
In his welcome address, UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili stressed that “without peace, there is no tourism”, adding: “I invite you to help build a tourism sector concerned with fostering peace, playing a key role in building peace and ending conflicts, providing tourism stakeholders with the means to realize this potential, promoting tourism education as part of peace education and linking tourism to other peacebuilding initiatives. »
Without peace, there is no tourism
Tourism as a link
The official World Tourism Day 2024 celebrations themed “Tourism and Peace” explored what this means in practice during a ministerial debate. Ministers from Georgia, Uzbekistan, Sierra Leone and Bahrain outlined how peace and security are the foundations of prosperity, citing examples from their countries and their own travel experiences to illustrate the way tourism connects people and promotes understanding. We will essentially remember the important role of tourism in combating disinformation and mistrust as well as the essential need to ensure that the benefits of tourism are distributed in a fair and equal manner throughout all societies.
To complement the public sector perspective, the private sector roundtable explored the potential and responsibility of private actors, ways to harness their strengths and capabilities to promote peace and stability through tourism, and the opportunities to work alongside public authorities to achieve these fundamental objectives. And from the perspective of entrepreneurship and digital innovation, speakers highlighted the potential of tourism to contribute to post-conflict reconstruction and resilience to future shocks.
Summarizing the discussions, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, explained: “Tourism embraces differences and welcomes similarities. Tourism integrates as much as it permeates. This is the essence of tourism’s capacity to be a vector of peace. »
Investing in tourism is investing in peace
The Executive Director of UN Tourism, Natalia Bayona, explained that investments in tourism are important both for growth and for peace and to provide opportunities: “We have seen time and again the capacity that tourism has to transform regions emerging from conflict, to be a sector that provides jobs and encourages entrepreneurial activity. The private sector must remain committed to mobilizing its resources in the service of peace and the creation of opportunities in emerging and vulnerable regions. »
UN Tourism has released the latest guide in its ever-expanding series of Investment Guidelines “Tourism Doing Business: Investing in Georgia” on World Tourism Day, highlighting the immense potential of country as an investment destination. Georgia has seen an average GDP growth rate of 5% over the past decade and foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country has soared to USD 2.3 billion in 2022, the highest level never recorded. Despite a difficult international environment, in 2023 FDI flows amounted to USD 1.9 billion.
The guide also outlines the key factors that make Georgia and its booming tourism sector an attractive destination for international investors, including:
- Combination of beautiful natural resources and rich cultural heritage, with more than 12,000 historic monuments and four UNESCO World Heritage sites
- Strong growth in the hospitality and real estate sectors. In 2023, Georgia received 6.2 million international visitors and recorded USD 4.1 billion in revenue. Expansion of international branded hotels and strong real estate market, attracting over USD 500 million in FDI in recent years.
- Transparency and regulatory efficiency. Economic reforms, such as the Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU, as well as recently obtaining EU candidate status.
World Tourism Day 2024
Tourism as a link
World Tourism Day 2024
Tourism as a link
World Tourism Day 2024
Tourism as a link
