UNWTO and RTS drive Swedish tourism innovation to a global level
PR No.: PR13043
UNWTO and the Swedish Travel and Tourism Industry Federation (RTS), take the project “Down to Earth for Tourism” to a global level. In the coming year, pilot projects in three continents – Asia, Africa and Europe (Sweden), will be carried out. A global network and a platform for Down to Earth for Tourism will be established as a cutting-edge project with space as a catalyst for innovative solutions for sustainable tourism development.
“Sweden is among the top contenders for its innovation, space technologies and sustainable tourism. It’s very exciting to see our joint project and partnership on innovation reach the global market. We will present some interesting results on the progress within this coming year. This is a possibility for knowledge sharing and an opportunity for countries to benefit from each other’s development”, said Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General, will be one of the first advisors in the Global Tourism Innovation Network. The purpose with the global network is to contribute to cooperation in sustainable and innovative development by facilitating benchmarking and knowledge opportunities for sustainable development in the tourism sector.
“I am very proud to announce the Secretary-General as an advisor in our Global Tourism Innovation Network. We are now looking forward to spearheading Down to Earth for Tourism together with UNWTO. This offers an exciting new toolbox for finding new innovative solutions to meet challenges for the tourism sector in the 21 century”, says Jan Lundin, President of the Swedish Travel and Tourism Industry Federation.
During the coming year, the three pilot projects will be conducted in Africa, in Asia and in Sweden, launched in October 2013 at the Global Tourism Innovation Summit in conjunction with the Swedish Tourism Gala in Stockholm.
Useful Links:
UNWTO and Swedish Tourism launch new initiative at Rio+20
Contacts:
Communications Director: Anneli Sundström
Tel: +46 (0)70-250 35 91
Senior Media Officer: Marcelo Risi
Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60
UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme
Tel: +34 91-567-8100
Fax: +34 91-567-8218
