He was speaking at the 61st meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Africa, held in Abuja, Nigeria, which was attended by 18 tourism ministers and key tourism stakeholders from 36 countries in Africa.
Professor Marina Novelli, Professor of Tourism and International Development and Academic Lead for the Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯’s Responsible Futures Agenda, was amongst the guest speakers. Her work on fostering Responsible Futures through Sustainable Tourism is aimed at contributing to a more just and environmentally sustainable society through the development of research and enterprise collaborations with local, national and international organisations and industry partners.
The UNWTO Secretary-General said: “The priorities of my mandate have been formed by listening to the needs of our member states and include the crucial targets of creating more and better tourism jobs, improving tourism education and fostering innovation.
“We need to build tight links between public and private sectors for tourism to transform growth across the continent, and for the benefit of its people.”
‘Tourism Statistics: A Catalyst for Development’ was the theme of this year’s seminar and Professor Novelli was invited to contribute to discussion held during the panel on “Broadening the scope, establishing a statistical tourism framework for Measuring Sustainable Tourism in Africa.