UNWTO and Croatia have agreed to further advance sustainable tourism and maximize its contribution to economic growth, job creation and development in the country. Planned joint activities include the holding of the ‘First International Conference on Tourism and the Media’ in Zagreb next September.

Visiting UNWTO Headquarters on 15 February, the Croatian Minister of Tourism, Damir Bajs, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, in which both parties commit to deepen their existing collaboration. The MoU will translate into further cooperation on key issues such as governance, sustainability, competitiveness, innovation and promotion.

One of the first outcomes of this new cooperation framework will be the holding of the ‘First International Conference on Tourism and the Media’ to take place in Zagreb, Croatia. The Conference, jointly organized by UNWTO and Croatia, will focus on how to improve the editorial positioning of tourism in the media, stressing the sector’s relation with economic growth, country image and international positioning.

“This is a new quality in the already existing partnership relation between Croatia and UNWTO,” said Mr .Bajs. “I am especially glad that Croatia will be hosting the first ever international conference on tourism and the media. This conference will deal with the influence of the media and tourism on various segments of the economy and the overall image of a tourism oriented country”.

“This meeting has been extremely constructive and we very happy that as a result, Croatia will be holding this important conference,” said Mr. Rifai.

In the last decade Croatia has consolidated its position as a principal tourism destination in South-Eastern Europe. In 2009, thanks to a strong tourism strategy which included the enhancement of visa facilitation, support to the increase of airlift capacity and several agreements with tour operators, Croatia received over 9 million international tourist arrivals and US$ 9 billion in tourism receipts. Results for 2010 show continued growth with an impressive rate of 5% in international arrivals.

“Croatia is a true tourism success story and we look forward to continuing in this spirit of collaboration,” added Mr. Rifai.

 

Nominations are officially open for the 2011 UNWTO Ulysses Awards. The Awards seek to recognize highly innovative tourism projects which have contributed to tourism policy, governance, and other areas, such as the environment, socio-economic development and new technologies.

The UNWTO Ulysses Awards reward initiatives and projects undertaken by public tourism institutions, tourism enterprises and non-profit institutions that have made a significant contribution to the advancement of tourism through innovation, in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The UNWTO Ulysses Awards are aligned with the objectives of the UNWTO Knowledge Network, a worldwide community of innovation supporting knowledge management initiatives in tourism.

UNWTO confers three awards for each of the following categories:

• UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Governance
• UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Enterprises
• UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Non-Governmental Organizations

The winners will be selected by an international jury of tourism experts and will be awarded during the UNWTO Ulysses Awards Ceremony, to be celebrated in Madrid, Spain, on 31 May 2011.

Nominations will be accepted until 31 March 2011

Previous winners include:

The Ministry of Sports and Tourism of Thailand, the General Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (Saudi Arabia), the Costa Rica Institute for Tourism, the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council (USA), Tourism Kwazulu Natal (South Africa), the Ministry of Tourism of Brazil, SEGITTUR (Spain), Tourism Portugal, the Slovenian Tourism Board and Valencia Tourism (Spain) in the category of public tourism institutions.

Riu Hotels and Resorts (Cape Verde), Intelligent Leisure Solutions and Discover Travel Group (Brazil), JSC Gero Serviso Garantija (Lithuania), ACCOR, Modul University Vienna (Austria) and the Catalan Association of Travel Agencies (Spain) in the category of enterprises.

BIRD - Biodiversity Research and Development Center (Nepal), the Business Foundation European Community Chile (Chile), the Dinastía Vivanco Foundation (Spain), the European Network of Tourism Villages, Québec Tourism Industry Corporation (Canada), the Foundation of the Spanish Railroads (Spain) and The Travel Foundation (UK) in the category of non-governmental organizations.

Please address your application to:

Eduardo Fayos-Solà
Executive-Secretary
UNWTO Knowledge Network
innova@unwto.org

Relevant links:

UNWTO Ulysses Prize and Awards