39th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for the Middle East and International Conference on Tourism Safety and Security in the Middle East and North Africa

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in conjunction with the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt, has the pleasure to invite Arab Members to the celebration of the statutory meeting of the 39th UNWTO Commission for the Middle East, to be held on 14 September 2014, in Cairo, Egypt. The Commission meeting will be followed by the International Conference on Tourism Safety and Security in the Middle East and North Africa in the evening of 14 September and on 15 September 2014.

Safety and security is an issue of vital importance for Travel and Tourism. Ensuring the well-being of visitors and enhancing the resilience of the sector to exogenous factors that may threaten its sustainable development - such as armed conflicts, terrorism and other man-made or natural hazards - is the responsibility of Governments, in partnership with private sector stakeholders.

The many challenges Tourism is facing, as cross-sectoral economic activity, largely dominated by small and medium-size enterprises, its international dimension and the need of effective public-private partnerships will be addressed thoroughly by the Conference, with a view to enabling National Tourism Administrations and private sector stakeholders to better assess and mitigate risks related to the sector and ensure that necessary safety and security requirements for the sustainable development of Tourism - both objective and subjective - are adequately met.