UNWTO and Telefónica Partner To Help Destinations Use Data and AI to Drive Tourism’s Sustainable Recovery

• All Regions
• 2 Jul 2020

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has strengthened its partnership with Telefónica, the Spanish multinational telecommunications company. As tourism restarts around the world, Telefonica deepens its collaboration with the United Nations specialized agency to advance market intelligence in order to accelerate the sector’s recovery from the impact of COVID-19.

As it guides the sector through the challenge posed by the pandemic, UNWTO has prioritized innovation as a key means of growing tourism back stronger and better. Additionally, with the global community now left with less than 10 years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (“The Decade of Action”), UNWTO is also driving tourism’s movement towards sustainability. This collaboration with Telefónica, which builds on an existing partnership, is designed to use digital transformation to support sustainable recovery and future growth.

Data to help destinations

As UNWTO leads tourism’s restart, our partnership with Telefónica will allow us to provide Member States and the sector as a whole the tools they need to accelerate recovery, build trust by guaranteeing safety and promote sustainability

UNWTO and Telefónica will work together to promote the effective use of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence across the tourism sector. This will help destinations better understand tourist behaviour, allowing them to market their products more effectively. Management of data will also help destinations better manage tourist flows within the context of the new health and safety protocols being rolled out in response to COVID-19.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “The digital transformation of tourism will allow the sector to grow back stronger from the standstill caused by COVID-19. As UNWTO leads tourism’s restart, our partnership with Telefónica will allow us to provide Member States and the sector as a whole the tools they need to accelerate recovery, build trust by guaranteeing safety and promote sustainability.”

Digital-led transformation

Miguel Llopis, Industry Lead of Public Sector in IoT and Big Data at Telefónica, added: “Tourism will return with force but the sector will have to face a structural transformation where new digital technologies, such as IoT and Big Data, will be a differential factor of competitive advantage.”

Telefónica and UNWTO have worked together to launch a series of visualization tools within the UNWTO Global Data Dashboard that allows for a better understanding of key performance indicators in tourism.

Also to mark the start of this new phases of collaboration, UNWTO joined Telefónica, Turismo de Portugal, the Tourism Authority of Buenos Aires and the Secretary of Tourism of Chile (SERNATUR) for a special virtual training session for destinations in the Americas. This focused on exploring how the use of Big Data can add value to the tourism sector and lead recovery.

Related Links

• Download the news release
• UNWTO Américas Webinar: Maximizando el big data para generar valor en el mercado doméstico
• UNWTO Partners with Telefonica to Promote Tourism Sector Digitalization
• UNWTO Tourism Data Dashboard
• EBRD and UNWTO Partner to Boost Tourism Recovery

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As Tourism Restarts, Our Responsibilities Remain

• All Regions
• 1 Jul 2020

Four months ago, UNWTO asked its Members, the tourism sector and tourists themselves for patience. To stay at home for today so we could travel again tomorrow.

Tomorrow is now here.

The restart of tourism means the return of hope and opportunity for many millions of people around the world.

This week, Europe leads the way in restarting tourism. Destinations throughout the Schengen Zone are once again open. The lifting of borders will have an immediate and significant impact on economies and livelihoods.

For Spain, host country of UNWTO, and neighbours Portugal, the occasion will be marked by a special ceremony. The presence of His Majesty King Felipe VI and President Pedro Sánchez of Spain alongside President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister Antonio Costa of Portugal is testament to the significance of tourism’s restart for both countries.

So too is the practical support that tourism has received, including from the very highest political level. The European Commission has provided an unprecedented degree of economic support for the sector. And at the national level, has France has echoed our call to back tourism with actions and not just words, giving the sector and the businesses that make it the economic help they need to survive and lead recovery.

To reflect this, UNWTO is changing gears in how we support our Member States and tourism at large.

This week I resume person-to-person official meetings as I lead a delegation on an official visit to Italy and to the Vatican City. 

This is an opportunity to show our support for tourism and for a country that is not only a true global tourism leader, but which was one of the worst-affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in all of Europe.

Our visit to Italy will allow us to learn more about important steps being taken to make tourism more sustainable, more resilient and more innovative. It also offers an opportunity to celebrate what makes tourism: people.

This will be the first of a series of visits as the world steadily opens up again, allowing us to lead by example in supporting tourism and making our sector a vital tool for recovery.

At the same time, it is only right that we remain cautious. This crisis is far from over. In other regions of the world, borders remain closed to tourism and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread. The human toll, economic cost and social impact are still growing. This is no time for complacency.

And even where the worst appears to have passed, the threat of the pandemic returning means we must act responsibly and make public health our priority.

During these difficult months, tourism has stepped up to meet this unprecedented challenge with determination and an unparalleled spirit of solidarity. We carry this into the next stage.

Tourism’s restart is a step towards ending many weeks of uncertainty and replace it with a renewed sense of confidence. As we meet in person again, we can build trust, the essential foundation as we work together to grow back stronger and better. But this will only work out, if we act with responsibility – it’s better to be right, than to be first.

Zurab Pololikashvili,
UNWTO Secretary-General

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UNWTO Adapts Agenda for Africa to Accelerate Tourism Recovery

• Africa
• 29 Jun 2020

Member States from across Africa have shared their priorities for tourism against the backdrop of COVID-19. As with every other global region, African destinations have been hit hard by the restrictions on travel introduced in response to the pandemic. The sudden and unexpected drop in tourist arrivals has placed many millions of jobs at risk and threatened to roll back the progress made in sustainable development.

Now, as UNWTO leads the restart of tourism, African Member States have set out their vision for the sector. This builds on the UNWTO Agenda for Africa – Tourism for Inclusive Growth, the roadmap for African tourism that was adopted at the UNWTO General Assembly in 2019, and is based on the responses to a survey sent out by the Regional Department for Africa.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “This feedback from our African Member States will help us guide tourism through the challenging months ahead. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on tourism across the continent. However, UNWTO is committed to helping Africa grow back stronger and better and for tourism to emerge from this crisis as an important pillar of economies, jobs and sustainability.”

Investment and innovation key priorities at continental level

UNWTO is committed to helping Africa grow back stronger and better and for tourism to emerge from this crisis as an important pillar of economies, jobs and sustainability

At the continental level, the survey revealed that the five key areas of the UNWTO Agenda for Africa that Member States would like to see prioritized in order to better support them as they recover from the impact of COVID-19 are:

• Unlocking growth through investment promotion and public-private partnerships
• Promoting innovation and technology,
• Promoting travel facilitation, including enhanced connectivity and tourism visa policies 
• Fostering resilience, including through promoting safety and security and crisis communications
• Advocating for “Brand Africa”

At the same time, the survey answers showed that Member States would like to see the part of the Agenda for Africa focusing on Fostering Resilience to be realigned to reflect the current situation. This will allow for a more effective response to the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and to accelerate recovery. Alongside this, Member States across Africa also expressed a wish for UNWTO to focus future capacity building and training sessions on the topics of crisis management and communications, marketing, developing domestic tourism and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship.

Sub-regional priorities outlined

The survey also revealed the different priorities of Member States from different parts of Africa. In North Africa, the number one priority is expanding capacity building, including through the provision of more training; in both Western and Eastern Africa, Members named promoting better travel facilitation and unlocking tourism growth through investments and public-private partnerships as their priorities.

Meanwhile, advocating for “Brand Africa” emerged as the number one priority for Member States in Southern Africa, and in Central Africa, the focus is on strengthening tourism statistics systems. Furthermore, the survey also found that Member States from across the continent would like to see UNWTO add a new section to the Agenda for Africa focusing on the promotion of regional and domestic tourism. 

Last but not least, Member States also suggested UNWTO undertake a range of actions both at the political and technical level, including strengthening collaboration between governments, facilitate the creation of investment funds to support tourism and provide practical support to SMEs. These actions would be particularly beneficial to countries whose GDP heavily depends on the tourism sector including the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Related links

• Download the news release
• UNWTO Agenda for Africa Tourism for Inclusive Growth
• Sixty-Third Meeting of the UNWTO Regional Commission for Africa (CAF)
• Small Island Destinations in Critical Need of Urgent Support as Tourism Plunges, UNWTO Warns

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Small Island Destinations in Critical Need of Urgent Support as Tourism Plunges, UNWTO Warns

• All Regions
• 29 Jun 2020

Without strong support, the sudden and unexpected fall in tourism could devastate the economies of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has warned. Since tourism is a strong socio-economic pillar of many SIDS, the impact that COVID-19 is having on the sector places millions of jobs and businesses at risk, with women and informal workers the most vulnerable.

In the second of its Briefing Note series on Tourism and COVID-19, UNWTO has highlighted the severe impact the pandemic could have on livelihoods in these destinations. According to the latest data from the United Nations specialized agency, tourism accounts for more than 30% of total exports in the majority of the 38 SIDS. In some countries, this proportion is as high as 90%, making them especially vulnerable to falling tourist numbers.

Such a major shock translates into a massive loss of jobs and a sharp decline in foreign exchange and tax revenues, which curbs public spending capacity and the ability to deploy necessary measures to support livelihoods through the crisis, UNWTO further warns.

International Tourists dropped 47% in the first four months  

International tourist arrivals have fallen dramatically, and destinations that rely on the sector for jobs and economic wellbeing such as small islands will be hit the hardest

In 2019, SIDS welcomed some 44 million international tourist arrivals and the sector earned US$55 billion in export revenues. International tourist arrivals were down 47% in the first four months of this year. 

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented disruption. International tourist arrivals have fallen dramatically, and destinations that rely on the sector for jobs and economic wellbeing such as small islands will be hit the hardest. As such, measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on these states and to stimulate the recovery of tourism are now more critical than ever.”

Informal workers and women at greatest risk

The United Nations estimates that SIDS economies could shrink by 4.7% in 2020 as compared to 3% for the world economy.

The UNWTO Briefing Note also highlights the risk posed to those working in the informal economy by the sudden fall in tourist arrivals in SIDS. As a sector, tourism is a leading global employer and, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), more than half of all workers in the accommodation and food services sector in most SIDS reporting data are women. In many, this proportion is even higher, including in Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago (70%+).

At the same time, workers in the informal economy are at risk of falling into poverty as the impact of COVID-19 is felt in SIDS and other low- and middle-income countries worldwide, UNWTO also warns.

Related Links

• Download the news release
• UNWTO Briefing Note – Tourism and COVID-19, Issue 2, Tourism In SIDS – The challenge of sustaining livelihoods in times of COVID-19
• UNWTO Briefing Note – Tourism and COVID-19, Issue 1. How are countries supporting tourism recovery?
• UNWTO Online interactive dashboard on country and international policy responses to COVID-19
• UNWTO Data Dashboard – International Tourism and COVID 19

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