Punta Cana hosts 118th UNWTO Executive Council meeting from 16-18 May

Punta Cana.- The Dominican Republic will host, for the first time, the 118th Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), to be held in Punta Cana from Tuesday through Thursday and which will bring together the leaders of the sector worldwide.

The opening will be led by Tourism Minister David Collado and UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili, and will be attended by ministers and delegations from UNWTO member countries.

It will serve as an ideal venue to analyze, among all the actors of the sector and the host country, the advances, experiences, strategies and challenges for the future; the main theme will be sustainability in tourism, in the search for the development of more sustainable tourist destinations.

Sustainability and its related issues will be addressed by tourism authorities and experts attending the ”Inter-Institutional Forum on Sustainable Tourism in the Dominican Republic,” which will be inaugurated by Minister Collado and UNWTO head Pololikashvili, and will take place on Tuesday, May 16 at the Meliá Caribe Beach Resort Punta Cana.

The forum activities will begin with an introductory session with the presentation ”Tourism for the Sustainable Development Goals,” by Zoritsa Urosevic, executive director of the UNWTO (France).

The second presentation will address the topic “Sustainability of Dominican Tourism. Conclusions of the project Transforming Tourism Value Chains in Small Developing States and Island Countries”, which will be presented by Lissette Gil, Sustainability Consultant and Director of the TRANSTUR Project, supported by Tourcert, the German Ministry of International Cooperation and non-profit organization KATE.

The celebration of the UNWTO meeting is of capital importance for the Dominican Republic, which has assumed as a priority –in the current term of Minister Collado– “to promote the development of a responsible, sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals”.

According to the head of Dominican tourism, the forum, like the Executive Council meeting, will be an opportunity to tell the world “how the country has become the leader of this sector in the region.”

Through this venue, representatives of the public and private sectors linked to the environment, tourism and biodiversity will hold panels in which they will discuss, among other topics, the way in which Dominican tourism, along with the leadership and growth achieved, is focused towards a more sustainable, rational, coherent and responsible proposal, as currently demanded by the times at a global level.

Topics such as the sustainability of Dominican tourism; consequences of climate change; water, a challenge for Dominican tourism; biodiversity protection, among others, will be discussed as well.

New Narratives in Tourism

The program of the Executive Council includes the Thematic Session ”New Narratives in Tourism,” which will take place on Thursday, May 18, an event in which communication leaders will show how tourism adapts its image, messages and communication channels to the demands of a more technological, demanding and committed public.

Among its objectives, with its contents and debates, this activity pretends to become a very useful tool to guide tourism authorities and professionals so that their communication strategies show their evolution to a more resilient and supportive sector.

At the same time, it provides a platform for governments, tourism authorities and private entities to exchange experiences and ideas on how communication can convey the message of a more innovative, sustainable and people-centered tourism sector by integrating innovative tools and concepts.

New Narratives in Tourism is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. at the Meliá Caribe Beach Resort.