Enabling Frameworks for Tourism Investment, presentation UNWTO Investment Guidelines, Series A, publication#1

Enabling Frameworks for Tourism Investment, presentation UNWTO Investment Guidelines

Date: 28/10/20
Time: 02:00 PM CET
Language: English

Tourism Investment Guidelines


Enabling Frameworks for Tourism Investment
Drivers and Challenges shaping Investments in Tourism
Series A, Publication #1

Panelists

Fondo
Ana Arias Urones
Ana Arias Urones
Trade and Investment Senior Specialist at Inter-American Development Bank

Ana is a senior Trade and Investment specialist in the Trade and Investment Division of the Inter-American Development Bank since 2013. She is leading several national and regional projects in Latin America and the Caribbean in foreign investment attraction and promotion, digital one-stop shops for investment and digital tools investment. Prior to joining the IDB, she worked at ICEX-Invest in Spain for six years and in several international telecom and aerospace companies. Ana holds a PhD in Foreign Investment, a Master’s in Foreign Trade and a Degree in Law from the Oviedo University, Spain.

Fondo
Inge Huijbrechts
Inge Huijbrechts
Global Senior Vice President Responsible Business and Safety & Security at Radisson Hotel Group

Inge Huijbrechts is Global Senior Vice President Responsible Business and Safety & Security for Radisson Hotel Group – developing the Responsible Business program in the group’s 1,440 hotels in operations and development in 115 countries around the world. Together with her team, she lays out the strategy for Responsible Business from build to operations and keeps the over 100,000 employees around the world engaged in everyday Responsible Business actions. Inge turned Radisson Hotel Group’s brands into Sustainable brands, with a specific focus to engage guests in sustainability and community action. Two of these programs have won awards: Park Inn by Radisson has won the 2017 UNWTO Award for Innovation; Radisson Blu has won the 2017 IMEX Innovation in Sustainability Award. She is a member of the ASIS CSO Center for Leadership and Development and a member of the International Tourism Partnership Executive Committee

Fondo
Bostjan Skalar
Skalar Boštjan
CEO at WAIPA - World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies

Bostjan Skalar is a Slovenian citizen born in Ljubljana, Slovenia and is currently serving as an Executive Director - CEO of World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies. WAIPA is the umbrella organization of worldwide investment promotion agencies established in 1995 in Geneva under auspices of UNCTAD. Previously he served as a Director of new Slovenian Public Agency for Promotion of Investment, Internationalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism (SPIRIT). He also served as a Consul for Economic Affairs of Slovenia in Istanbul, Turkey. He has also effectively performed his international business activities and managing roles in different sectors in many foreign countries. He has over 20 years of management experience and is one of the global leaders in investment promotion area with a private-sector focus. His vast experiences in different fields from private to public sector give him a global overview on current business and geopolitical trends that influences the flows of FDI.

Fondo
Sarah Russis
Sarah Russis Kraïem
Head of Global Sales at fDi Intelligence Financial Times

Sarah Russis is Director at fDi Intelligence, the largest Foreign Direct Investment centre of excellence worldwide [a specialist service from the Financial Times]. She has worked with Government agencies, Universities, Research institutions, Multinationals, SMEs and Consulting firms from over 50 countries.

Sarah and her team help countries, regions and cities around the world to promote their location as an investment destination, identify new investors as well as build strong business cases through the use of fDi Intelligence’s state-of-the-art business intelligence and marketing tools. She also assists corporates and academic institutions in their market and industry research.

For the last 8 years Sarah has been helping to develop the fDi Intelligence tools and is an expert in using data to create analysis regarding a location’s competitiveness, marketing messages and brand awareness.

Sarah is regularly invited to participate at international FDI events. Recently she presented at the MIPIM Real Estate event in Cannes, France, Annual Investment Meeting AIM Dubai and the United Nations World Tourism Organization Annual General Assembly in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Sarah has a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Foreign Languages from Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge, UK and a Master’s degree in International Business from the University of Cergy-Pontoise, France.

Fondo
Natalia Bayona
Natalia Bayona
Director Innovation, Education and Investments at UNWTO

Natalia Bayona leads the innovation, digital transformation and investments strategy of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations specialized agency for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and accessible tourism worldwide.

With a diverse background on politics, destination management and business, she has become the first innovation director at UNWTO and has introduced entrepreneurship as key factor for tourism and development. Her work consists on identifying the most disruptive startups and investment projects and matching them with Member States and leading corporations. As an advocate of youth and technology, she seeks to make entrepreneurs grow for a promising future in all regions.

For 2 and a half years, Natalia has developed 7 UNWTO Startup Competitions and 4 Innovation Challenges, including the Healing Solutions for Tourism edition, with outcomes such as more than 45 million Euros in support for entrepreneurs and pilots for safe travel. Moreover, she has designed the Tourism Tech Adventures innovation forums and co-created the UNWTO Tourism Online Academy for advancing skill development in the sector in collaboration with the most pretigious universities. She has also opened the Multilateral Investment Cooperation area for tourism and is currently working on high-impact projects to #RestartTourism.

Natalia graduated in Government and International Relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia and holds an Executive MBA from the IE Business School. Nowadays, she is part of the World Economic Forum network as a European Digital Leader and is an Eisenhower Fellow as the first Colombian on the Women Leadership Program for creating the first Tourism for Tomorrow Alliance Fund: a high-level network focused on joining public-private efforts for high-impact investments in digital education and innovation for tourism’s sustainable development and post Covid-19 recovery.

In 2017, she served as the Vice President of International Development for the Spain Startup - South Summit and organized the first South Summit Pacific Alliance, connecting the main stakeholders of the entrepreneurship ecosystem of Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

Having worked in ProColombia for ten years, she has lived in six countries where has developed strategies to boost exports, foreign investment and tourism for Colombia. Her career started in 2006 as part of the team that created the first international tourism campaign for Colombia: “Colombia, the risk is wanting to stay”, which sought to change the image of the country abroad. The successful execution of this campaign in more than 15 countries was possible thanks to her work.