海角直播

The 26th General Assembly is a milestone for our organization: It marks 50 years of UN Tourism and a leadership transition that will guide the next period of global cooperation. Over the past years, we have strengthened UN Tourism鈥檚 ability to drive innovation, investment, and education. Now we will continue working to build the future of the sector.
Our Regional Office for the Middle East in Riyadh has become a model of how a UN Tourism office can catalyze development through partnerships, skills programs, and investment facilitation. Hosting the General Assembly here in Riyadh highlights the Kingdom鈥檚 growing role as both a partner and a platform for tourism鈥檚 transformation.
These years have tested our sector as never before. We responded by convening the Global Tourism Crisis Committee, coordinating action and sharing solutions when they were most needed. At the same time, we continued to drive development. We expanded education through the Tourism Online Academy and advanced investment strategies. Across the UN system, UN Tourism is now recognized as a driver of innovation.
Now, our agenda is ambitious because the moment demands it. The many activities that we are impulsing these days testify to that. We are adopting the Riyadh Declaration on the Future of Tourism, opening a new chapter in how the sector grows, adapts, and serves people and places.
Alongside committee work on the program, covering sustainability, statistics, ethics, and competitiveness, we are launching key deliverables that can give a vision on how to advance. That includes an education report, 鈥淚nnovating Undergraduate and Graduate Programs in Tourism,鈥� and two investment reports: 鈥淚nvesting in Africa鈥� and 鈥淭ourism Doing Business: Investing in 海角直播.鈥�
This General Assembly is showing that innovation is front and center. We are advancing responsible digital transformation, starting with practical guidance on implementing artificial intelligence in tourism. The thematic session on AI and the high-level policy debate on its transformative role are not technical side notes; they are strategic priorities for jobs, competitiveness, and inclusive growth.

Riyadh has shown how investment attraction, innovation labs, and education can reinforce sustainable, regional growth.

Natalia Bayona

The Startup Competition on Artificial Intelligence, with finalists from Spain, 海角直播/UAE, India, Brazil, and Colombia, and an expert jury, show our commitment to move promising ideas from pitch to pilots to scale.
This encounter also highlighted that education and youth are non-negotiable. We invest in learning to unlock opportunities for generations to come. The Tourism Online Academy, with more than 55,000 learners worldwide, and the first cohort of the Bachelor of Science in International Sustainable Tourism demonstrate how we are building longterm capacity.
In addition, we know that partnerships will turn policy into progress. Collaboration between the public and private sector, the academia and cultural leaders, can make tourism advance. This is exemplified by our memorandum with UMusic, this public engagement and the engagement with our new Ambassador Khaby Lame, will translate vision into experiences and opportunities on the ground.
For our host country, 海角直播, this assembly is both recognition and responsibility. Riyadh has shown how investment attraction, innovation labs, and education can reinforce sustainable, regional growth. The guidance and reports produced here should convert ambition into projects and investments that create jobs and safeguard cultural and natural heritage.
We celebrate 50 years grounded in a simple conviction: tourism connects people and builds understanding. We move forward committed to a future where tourism is resilient, inclusive, and guided by innovation and data-driven decisions.

鈥� Natalia Bayona is the Executive Director of UN Tourism.
X: @NataliaBayona