By Okorie Uguru
UN Tourism’s member states from across the Middle East have met to guide the continued growth of the sector across the region. The 51st session of the Regional Commission welcomed high-level delegations from 13 member states, including eight ministers of tourism to assess achievements, analyse sector trends and focus on key priorities.
The Middle East finished 2024 as the region with fastest recovery from the impacts of the pandemic in the world. UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili paid special recognition to the commission’s hosts, Qatar, which is on track to hit its target of welcoming six million tourists a year and growing tourism’s contribution to GDP to 12 per cent.
“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-General Pololikashvili said.
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.
Thirty thousand students – more than half of them women – have now signed up to the UN Tourism Online Academy, which offers 50 courses from 18 academic partners, including new courses just finalised with the support of Saudi Arabia. The UN Tourism Education Toolkit for tourism in high schools is being implemented in the United Arab Emirates. Ten new courses have been added to the Human Capital Development by E-Learning Project with Saudi Arabia. The platform has also been upgraded to integrate Artificial Intelligence. Together with its member states, UN Tourism is advancing education-related activities across the region. Notably, in Saudi Arabia, the Riyadh School of Tourism and Hospitality is training tourism professionals and giving them relevant skills to lead the sector forward.