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Qatar Emerges as a Tourism Visionary as UN Tourism Regional Fee Showcases the Center East’s Fast Development, Future Potential and Strategic Roadmap for Success
Friday, February 14, 2025
High tourism officers from throughout the Center East gathered for the 51st session of the UN Tourism Regional Fee to drive the sector’s continued growth. Hosted in Qatar, the high-profile assembly introduced collectively senior representatives from 13 Member States, together with eight Tourism Ministers, to guage achievements, analyze rising traits, and set strategic priorities for the area’s future.
The Center East has emerged because the world’s fastest-recovering tourism area, closing 2024 with spectacular development. UN Tourism Secretary-Basic Zurab Pololikashvili highlighted Qatar’s outstanding progress, acknowledging the nation’s formidable tourism targets. Qatar is effectively on its method to welcoming 6 million guests yearly whereas working towards growing tourism’s contribution to its GDP to 12%.
This newest session bolstered the dedication of Center Japanese nations to leveraging tourism as a key financial driver, with a give attention to sustainable growth, innovation, and enhanced connectivity throughout the area.
“The Middle East stands out as one of the most exciting places for tourism right now. The region is a leader in fields such as luxury tourism, wellness tourism and sports tourism, and is also at the forefront of vital work to grow investments into the sector and provide education and training for millions of future tourism workers,” Secretary-Basic Pololikashvili mentioned.
Advancing Tourism Schooling Throughout the Area
The newest reviews from the Secretary-Basic and the Regional Director for the Center East spotlight UN Tourism’s dedication to fostering expertise growth by means of training {and professional} coaching. Key milestones embody:
Increasing Academic Entry: Over 30,000 college students, with greater than half being girls, have enrolled within the UN Tourism On-line Academy, which now presents 50 programs from 18 tutorial companions. New programs, developed with Saudi Arabia’s assist, have additional strengthened the platform.
Excessive Faculty Tourism Schooling: The UN Tourism Schooling Toolkit is now being applied in excessive faculties throughout the UAE, guaranteeing early publicity to tourism profession alternatives.
Human Capital Improvement: Saudi Arabia’s collaboration has led to the introduction of 10 new programs on the Human Capital Improvement by E-Studying Undertaking, with an upgraded platform integrating Synthetic Intelligence for enhanced studying.
World-Class Tourism Coaching: The Riyadh Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality continues to equip professionals with crucial trade expertise, getting ready future leaders within the sector.
Sports activities Tourism as a Key Financial Driver
The facility of sports activities tourism as an financial diversification software was showcased in Doha, emphasizing the Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 as a worldwide success story. Different main sporting occasions within the Center East—similar to Method 1 in Bahrain and the UAE, the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, and the area’s high-profile acquisitions of worldwide soccer groups and gamers—have solidified its standing as a worldwide sports activities tourism hub.
A particular one-day convention on Sports activities Tourism and the Tourism Business After the World Cup was held throughout the framework of the Regional Fee, reinforcing the sector’s long-term significance.
Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Diversification
UN Tourism reiterated its dedication to resilience and diversification, emphasizing:
Wellness tourism as a rising sector with immense potential.
Gastronomy tourism as a key driver of rural growth and cultural heritage preservation.
In step with the statutory obligations of the Regional Fee, Member States confirmed key appointments for the approaching years:
Kuwait will chair the Regional Fee for 2025-2027, with Qatar as First Vice-Chair and Iraq as Second Vice-Chair.
Egypt and the UAE will maintain seats on the UN Tourism Government Council (2025-2029).
Saudi Arabia will serve on the Committee on Tourism On-line Schooling (2025-2029), whereas the UAE will contribute to the Technical Committee for the Worldwide Code for the Safety of Vacationers.
The 52nd Regional Fee for the Center East will convene in Kuwait Metropolis, Kuwait, in 2026, marking one other milestone within the area’s collaborative efforts to form the way forward for world tourism.
