AM Newsletter Volume 24. October 2020

• All Regions
• 21 Oct 20
• N PAG. 20

Dear Affiliate Member,

October arrives with important news for the Affiliate Members Department (AMD) and the Affiliate Membership and I am pleased to share with you some of the highlights.

Firstly, I will talk about an important date next month. On 5-6 November 2020, we will celebrate the 42nd UNWTO Affiliate Members Plenary Session in Madrid (Spain), in a hybrid format that combines both inperson and virtual attendance. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, I believe that the strategic partnership between UNWTO and the private sector, through the Affiliate Membership, is the key element to restart tourism and accelerate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Therefore, this year’s Plenary Session will be of utmost importance as we will focus on recovering tourism, rebuilding trust and reinforcing partnerships, along with repositioning the Affiliate Membership. Moreover, we will discuss about the Programme of Work 2021, which will define the priority lines of the department for next year. In addition, we invite you to attend a Distinction Awards Ceremony where we will recognize the excellence of the work done by the Affiliate Members in different relevant areas of the tourism sector. I encourage you ALL to actively participate in the consistent exchange of information that will take place during this Plenary Session. You can find more information in this newsletter, the dedicated webpage and on AMConnected.

Secondly, I am excited to welcome 29 new members to our Affiliate Membership! Their candidatures were approved by the UNWTO Executive Council, held in Tbilisi, in September 2020. I am happy to expand our AM Membership in regions with less representation, such as Asia and the Middle East, and I take the chance to express my strong commitment to expand the AM Membership with high-quality members worldwide that can add value to our network.

Thirdly, I would like to share my satisfaction for the relevant role and greater visibility achieved by the Affiliate Membership during the 112th UNWTO Executive Council. The priority lines of action of the Affiliate Membership were underlined in the Report of the Secretary General, which I had the pleasure to present. Next to this, the Chair of the Board of Affiliate Members, Ms Ana Larrañaga, presented the most relevant activities carried out by the Affiliate Members and their substantial contributions during the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result of the Affiliate Membership’s particular relevance and visibility at this very important meeting, the Executive Council expressed their full support to the work of the Affiliate Members.

Lastly, I am proud to announce that we have initiated the process of a Reform aimed to build an updated and modernized regulatory and legal framework for our Affiliate Membership, which will allow our Membership to operate in a more consistent and effective way.

We have achieved important milestones recently, but there is more to be done. As we face this challenging time for the tourism sector, now more than ever, the Affiliate Membership needs to reinforce our dialogue and cooperation.

I encourage you to continue to share with us your proposals, measures and initiatives, and, in particular, your proposals for the Programme of Work 2021.

As always, I am at your disposal to hear your comments and insights and I look forward to welcoming you in person at our 42nd Plenary Session!

Sincerely,
Ion Vilcu

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AM NEWSLETTER Volume 22. September 2020

• All Regions
• 21 Sep 20
• N PAG. 16

Dear Affiliate Member,

I hope that you and your loved ones are in good health during these still very challenging and unprecedented times.

Tourism is restarting and parts of our world have entered the summer holiday season. With this, restriction on travel are slowly being eased, allowing tourism to start in a growing number of destinations. By means of this word to you, I would like to encourage you all to take this opportunity and contribute to the recovery of our industry. Finding a balance between public health and supporting the sector will not be easy, but it can be done! All together we can restart the tourism industry safely and successful, overcome this crisis and recover from it in a responsible, inclusive and sustainable way.

I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that within the month of July, we have celebrated the UNWTO regional commission for the Middle East. We are happy to share with you that our Vice-President of the Board for Affiliate Members, Don Hawkins, has represented the private sector and presented the role of the AMs and their involvement in the initiatives of UNWTO in its efforts to mitigate the impact of the crisis and boost the restart of the industry.

I am also pleased to inform you that we had two very successful meetings with the members of the board of Affiliate Members, one held in Spanish and one held in English. The objective of these meetings was to offer our Affiliate members a suitable framework for dialog and a fast and effective exchange of information and ideas. As Affiliate Members Department we will continue to organize this type of meetings regularly, in different regional and sectoral formats and we will inform all Affiliate Members accordingly.

Lastly, I would like to remind you that the 112th of the Executive Council will be held at 15-17 September and, if the health situation allows it, it will be the first presential meeting organized by the UNWTO since the outbreak of the crisis.

As a final word, I encourage you to continue to share with us measures and initiatives you have envisaged to tackle the challenges at this stage and your prospect plans.

As always, I am at your disposal and look forward to hearing any comment, insights or proposals you may have.

Sincerely,
Ion Vilcu

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AM NEWSLETTER Volume 23. September 2020

• All Regions
• 16 Sep 20
• N PAG. 18

Dear Affiliate Member,

I hope that you and your loved ones are in good health during these still very challenging and unprecedented times.

Tourism gradually restarted during the summer season as restriction on travel have slowly being eased, allowing tourism activity in a growing number of destinations. However, in the last weeks we have seen that in many countries of the world, and especially Europe, COVID-19 cases are increasing again and consequently some countries imposed new measures such as quarantines or mandatory tests before travellers enter their territory.

This is the clear evidence that the COVID-19 crisis and its impact are still far from being over and they will be suffered for a long time. However, we all need to stay positive and work together to minimize the negative impact as much as we can. In order to do that, there is an urgent need for political coordination and collaboration. As stated by the UNWTO Secretary General, “In these uncertain times people around the world need strong, clear and consistent messages. What they don’t need are policy moves which ignore the fac that only together we are stronger and able to overcome the challenges we face”.

As Affiliate Members Department we are committed to take part in these efforts and give visibility to those made by our Affiliate Members to support the mitigation of the impacts and the recovery form this unprecedented crisis. In line with that, I would like to take the opportunity to inform you that, during the next Executive Council, which will be held the 15-17 of September, we will present a Report on our main activities carried out since the outbreak of the crisis. Moreover, the applications we received for the Affiliate Membership will be submitted for the approval of the Executive Council, and we hope this month we will be able to welcome 30 new Affiliate Members to add more value to our network.

As a final word, I would like to encourage you to continue to share with us measures and initiatives you have envisaged to tackle the challenges at this stage and your prospect plans.

As always, I am at your disposal and look forward to hearing any comment, insights or proposals you may have.

Sincerely,
Ion Vilcu

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AM NEWSLETTER VOLUMEN 21. JULY 2020

• All Regions
• 14 Jul 20
• N PAG. 21

Dear Affiliate Member,

I hope all of you and your beloved ones are in good health in the current context. As you are probably all aware, we are approaching a new phase of cautious restart of tourism. Restrictions on travel are slowly being eased, allowing tourism to restart in a growing number of destinations.

Approaching this new phase, UNWTO continues to work with Member States, and the private sector around the world to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and ensure that tourism can help driving a responsible, inclusive and sustainable restart of the sector. In line with this, UNWTO restarted some of its “normal” activities, even if all is being done always respecting the health recommendations to ensure the safety of all the staff and the other actors involved.

During the month of June, 4 out of 5 UNWTO Regional Commissions has been held in a virtual format. Specifically, in this order, the Regional Commission for Africa, Americas, Europe and East Asia & the Pacific were celebrated. Given the current situation, all these ministerial meetings bringing together tourism authorities from across the continents focused on recovery strategies and the need for states to be resilient and ready to adapt to the new normal. I am happy to say that the Affiliate Members were institutionally represented in two of the Regional Commissions. In fact, the Chair of the Board of Affiliate Members Ana Larrañaga in the Regional Commission for Europe, and the Vice- Chair Jens Thraenhart in the Regional Commission for East Asia & the Pacific and South Asia, presented the role of the AMs and their involvement in the initiatives of the UNWTO in its efforts to mitigate the impact of the crisis and boost the restart of the sector.

Also, I am pleased to inform you that the 112th session of the Executive Council, during which the decision on the new Affiliate Members are taken, will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, from 15-17 of September 2020. This will be the first UNWTO event, after the crisis, that will be celebrated in a hybrid format, being both presential and virtual.

From our Department, we keep working with our Affiliate Members to support them in the recovery phase and we invite you to keep sharing with us your initiatives and thoughts as valuable contributions to the ongoing debate. I am also very proud to tell you about our leading role to ensure UNWTO participation in the UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit. We set up a UNWTO Pavilion where the work and initiatives of UNWTO, and the most valuable from our Affiliate Members, were showcased. It was an amazing opportunity of networking and we are very happy about the results in terms of attendance and meetings we had.

As always, I am at your disposal and look forward to hearing any comment you may have.

Sincerely,
Ion Vilcu

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AM NEWSLETTER VOLUMEN 20. JUNE 2020

• All Regions
• 10 Jun 20
• N PAG. 19

Dear Affiliate Member,

I hope all of you and your families are in good health during this difficult and unprecedented context. The COVID-19 crisis is still far from being over and, unfortunately, we are all aware that its socio-economic implications will be suffered heavily and for long time, especially in the tourism sector. For this reason, I would like to convey a message of hope and solidarity to all my colleagues who are experiencing such challenging times.

The UNWTO Secretary General Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili said that “Tourism will again partner with recovery for livelihoods, and more resilient societies. We will restore confidence only by working together”. This is the only way the tourism sector can drive economies back towards growth and start rebuilding our societies.

In order to do that, UNWTO is working closely with other UN Agencies and the private sector and has taken a strong leadership to boost the recovery of the sector through the work of the Global Tourism Crisis Committee. After several months of hard work and thanks to the contribution of all the members of the group, the Global Guidelines for the restart of tourism were published and you can find them in the AMConnected platform. These global guidelines identified the main priorities for the recovery and addresses the main subsectors of the tourism industry. Moreover, they reflect some of the most valuable initiatives we received from our Affiliate Members.

Furthermore, It is worth recalling that the UNWTO has released a Tourism Recovery Technical Assistance Package, designed to support governments, the private sector and donor agencies to face this unprecedented emergency. The package is structured around three main pillars: economic recovery, marketing and promotion, and institutional strengthening and resilience building.

At the same time, from our Department we have kept inviting the Affiliate Members to share with us their initiatives and thoughts in order to incorporate the most valuable inputs into the ongoing debate. Moreover, we have started publishing, on a regular basis, on our interactive platform AMConnected an Update Report including the most valuable initiatives.

I would like to take the opportunity to encourage you to continue to share with us measures and initiatives you have envisaged to tackle the challenges at this stage and your prospect plans.

As always, I am at your disposal and look forward to hearing any comment you may have.

Sincerely,
Ion Vilcu

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AM Newsletter Volumen 19. May 2020

• All Regions
• 8 May 20
• N PAG. 19

First of all, I hope all of you are doing well during these hard times. The COVID-19 pandemic is above all a health crisis that requires decisive and consistent actions to flatten the curve and stop the spread of the virus. However, it also has significant socio-economic implications not only for the tourism sector as a whole, but also for friends and colleagues whose livelihood and wellbeing depend on tourism, who are experiencing very challenging times.

As you all are aware, UNWTO, in close collaboration with other relevant UN Agencies and the private sector, has taken a strong stance and leadership to minimize all the imposed challenges while setting the framework for tourism stakeholders to be part of the global solutions. During the past weeks, we have shared with our Affiliate Members the main activities and initiatives carried out by the Organization on a daily basis, through our dedicated interactive platform AMConnected.

It is worth recalling that the Global Tourism Crisis Committee - a mechanism of coordination among Members States, the UN system and the private sector - held another meeting on April 16, and the inputs received from all the Affiliate Members have been convened through the institutional representation of the Chair of the Board of Affiliate Members.

At the same time, from our Department we have invited the Affiliate Members to share with us their initiatives and thoughts in order to incorporate the most valuable inputs into the ongoing exchange of information and debate. I would like to take the opportunity to encourage you to continue to share with us measures and initiatives you have envisaged to tackle the challenges at this stage and your prospect plans.

As always, I am at your disposal and look forward to hearing any comment you may have.

Sincerely,
Ion Vilcu

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AM Newsletter Volumen 18. April 2020

• All Regions
• 14 Apr 20

Dear Affiliate Member,

As we are all aware, the tourism sector is currently one of the hardest-hit by the outbreak of COVID-19, and the UNWTO expects that international tourist arrivals will be down by 20% to 30% in 2020 when compared with 2019 figures. This unprecedented situation requires all of us to be prepared and adapt our response.

It is important more than ever to stand by each other and work closely to tackle the damages imposed to tourism practices and activities during the recession period and explore how to revitalize the tourism sector during the recovery stage.

While monitoring the evolution of the situation and trying to tackle the damages, we need to start working on defining proposals and measures for the recovery plans. From this perspective, in UNWTO and particularly in this Department, we consider that the proposals and ideas of our Affiliate Members are very valuable, that it is important to take them into account and bring to the attention of our Member States, through the evaluations and proposals that UNWTO will be defining.

With this in mind, we encourage you, as the representatives of the tourism private sector, academia and the civil society to share with us your eventual proposal for prevention and response plans, as well as recovery strategies you have envisaged for your organization.

We are already working with all our Members to contribute to this collective response effort and we count on your support, commitment and contributions to deal with this difficult scenario.

As always, I am at your disposal and look forward to hearing any comment you may have.

Sincerely, Ion Vilcu

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AM Newsletter Volumen 17. March 2020

• All Regions
• 17 Mar 20
• N PAG. 16

Dear Affiliate Member,

In February we had focused on establishing the venue of our 42nd Plenary Session, which will take place in autumn 2020. I am happy to announce that after the full assessment of the two candidatures and taking into consideration all the details, evaluations and the recommendations received, including the recommendation of the Board of the Affiliate Members, the Secretary-General decided that Madrid will host the next Affiliate Members plenary session. We are now working with the Spanish national and local authorities to define the date and the logistic details and I am convinced that, in close collaboration with the Madrid City Council and with our Affiliate Member Madrid Destino we will prepare interesting events where you are all invited.

We also had focused on the organization of an Affiliate Members Department event in ITB: the “Affiliate Members Corner: Leading the Decade of Public Private Partnership for Sustainable Tourism”. However, due to COVID-19 outbreak, ITB was cancelled and therefore we were also forced to do the same.However, we will organize other AM Corners within the framework of other events as we are convinced these forums represent a great opportunity for our Affiliate Members to present their work in terms of initiatives, projects and publications and provide networking opportunities for any potential partnership and collaboration.

I would like to highlight the upcoming 63rd Regional Commission for Africa (CAF), which will be held in Victoria, Seychelles on 25-27 March. Within the framework of the CAF, the Forum on African Youth for Sustainable Tourism Solutions will take place aimed at identifying existing approaches and bringing new innovative ideas to boost sustainable practices within the tourism sector.

Finally, it is dutiful to tell a few words about the COVID-19 outbreak. On 6 March the UNWTO published a press release stating that political and financial commitments are key to ensure that tourism can lead wider economic and social recovery. Moreover, as the UN agency responsible for tourism and sustainable development, UNWTO stands ready to provide guidance and support for recovery measures of the private and public tourism sector, including organizers of tourism events and fairs.

As always, I am at your disposal and look forward to hearing any comment you may have.

Sincerely,
Ion Vilcu

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