Foreword of the

Secretary-General

Zurab Pololikashvili

UNWTO Secretary-General

Launched on the occasion of World Tourism Day 2022, this report intends to adhere to the spirit and the ambitions of this year’s celebration, held under the theme of “Rethinking Tourism”. The theme embodies an essential step for fully realizing our sector’s enormous and unrivalled potential to deliver positive change and opportunity for people everywhere, while at the same time meeting our responsibilities to sustainability and climate action.

Rethinking tourism means reassessing every part of our sector – what we do and why we do it. It also means rethinking how we communicate what we do and why we do it. On World Tourism Day, UNWTO will provide an update of our work, guided by the specific theme of that year’s celebrations. Tourism’s annual observance is the natural backdrop for an honest reflection on where UNWTO as an organization and tourism as a sector have come from and where we are going.

This first edition, naturally, is largely focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on tourism. It makes clear the scale of the challenge that faced us, collectively and individually. But then it also charts how UNWTO seized opportunity out of crisis, to set the foundations for the transformation of tourism. Through strengthening UNWTO’s position within the United Nations and on the global agenda, achieving unprecedented public visibility and establishing a new narrative, as well as through accelerating progress in key areas like innovation, climate action and financing and investments, this new report bears testament to our sector’s proven ability to adapt to adversity and bounce back stronger.

Antonio Guterres

“For economies reliant on tourism, particularly those with large informal sectors and those impacted by the climate crisis, this is an economic catastrophe. As we restart and recover from the pandemic, UNWTO has a key role in rethinking tourism and its interactions in society’s economies and our natural resources and ecosystems. That means green tourism with high emitting sectors including air and sea transport aiming for carbon neutrality. It means inclusive tourism that benefits marginalized communities and contributes to gender equality and intercultural understanding. And it means sustainable tourism, which builds resilience, protects our planet and delivers on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”

Antonio Guterres
UN Secretary-General

UNWTO Looking to the future