Small enterprises and local communities must be given the support they need to become true ‘agents of change’. As leaders of the G20 economies meet in Bali this week, UNWTO has stressed the importance of empowering grassroots actors as well as MSMES in order to drive sustainable and inclusive transformation and build greater resilience.

The shared progress being made in putting women’s empowerment ‘centre stage’ of tourism’s restart has been presented at the World Travel Market in London.

“Our job is to create jobs,” UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili told tourism sector leaders as education, sustainability, and governance took centre stage at the Ministers’ Summit at the World Travel Market.

Destinations around the world are reporting significant advances in sustainable tourism, with timely evidence and analytics serving as key tools for transformation as the sector’s recovery continues to get underway.

The importance of partnerships and cooperation to build sustainability and community development was emphasized at the sixth edition of the UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism.

UNWTO, the G20 Indonesian Presidency and the G20 Tourism Working Group have collaborated over the past year to deliver the G20 Guidelines on Strengthening MSMEs and Communities as Agents of Transformation in Tourism on the occasion of the G20 Tourism Ministers Meeting in Bali.