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UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism to analyze sector’s potential

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The countdown begins for the 5th World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism to be held on 2 and 3 May in Donostia-San Sebastián, organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Basque Culinary Center (BCC). International experts will analyze and discuss the influence and capacity of gastronomy tourism to create employment and promote entrepreneurship and how to increase its potential in the future. Registration to attend the forum is still open here.

Stimulating employment

The Forum will explore how the most favorable frameworks can be created in order to stimulate job creation and entrepreneurship throughout the gastronomy tourism value chain. In addition, the speakers will try to identify the most relevant skills for this type of tourism, which should foster synergies among emerging companies, promote the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and take full account of digitalization. The event will bring together speakers and experts from all regions of the world, as well as internationally renowned Basque chefs such as Elena Arzak, who is a UNWTO Ambassador for Responsible Tourism and joint head chef of the restaurant Arzak, and Andoni Luis Aduriz.
In addition, the event will host the presentation of the UNWTO/BCC Guidelines for the Development of Gastronomy Tourism.

Sessions and startups

The forum will open with a high-level panel with ministers and secretaries of state from countries that have included gastronomy tourism as part of their strategies, such as Cyprus, Slovenia or Spain, among others. Under the theme, “Public policies as key ingredients to promote gastronomy tourism”, the participants will discuss the necessary political framework for the development of gastronomy tourism as well as its capacity to create jobs and promote entrepreneurship.

In addition to shedding light on the competencies needed to meet the demands of gastronomy tourists, the sessions will encourage the creation of environments that stimulate entrepreneurship, that connect emerging companies and better integrate disadvantaged groups in the labour market. Issues related to local communities or to under-represented groups, such as women, youth and persons with disabilities, will also be discussed. In addition, topics such as the digitalization of the sector will also be analyzed in order to identify the new opportunities they offer to companies. In addition, the latest advances in the creation of the necessary framework to stimulate entrepreneurship will be presented, connecting the different ecosystems with the startups that are part of the value chain of gastronomy tourism.

In this context, the five finalist startups of the First Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition, organized by the UNWTO and the BCC, will present the most innovative projects in line with the UNWTO’s strategy and the contribution of gastronomy tourism to the sustainable development goals.

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UNWTO: Balearic Islands first tourism destination developed under 2030 Agenda

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Deploying new resources and actions for the progressive adaptation of the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera) to the objectives of the 2030 Agenda, is one of the main objectives of the agreement signed between the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the IMPULSA BALEARS Foundation. Its aim is to jumpstart the process of the strategic reformulation of tourism in order to make an effective contribution to sustainable development.

The planning and execution of new projects focused on local sustainability taking into account the tourism production and consumption patterns of the Balearic Islands, close relations with regional actors, harnessing public-private synergies, and the generation of strategic knowledge on the part of the foundation, are among the key features of this cooperation with the UNWTO, as the United Nations agency responsible for promoting tourism as a vehicle for sustainable development.

The establishment of circular economy guidelines in the hotel sector of the Islands and the identification of best practices already being implemented in this regard are among the first initiatives of the agreement. The objectives are to establish a specific approach to the relationship between hotel activity and its surrounding environment, to obtain intelligence that facilitates decision-making in the implementation of responsible consumption and production measures in line with the 2030 Agenda, and to lay down a strategic framework to activate the network of companies in the sector and other stakeholders.

The memorandum of understanding, signed by UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, and the President of IMPULSA BALEARS, Carmen Planas, will be in force until 31 December 2021.

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How safe is travel to Africa? African Tourism Board appoints SaferTourism

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African Tourism Board, (ATB)  has travel and security on its top agenda when attracting visitors to the continent.

At the upcoming ATB Launch on April 11, the organization will be announcing their appointment of SaferTourism.com to provide support and guidance to keep African Tourism Safe.

The man behind SaferTourism.com is no other than one of the best global experts available in this field.

Dr. Peter Tarlow, seen as a world-renowned expert in travel and tourism will be the keynote speaker at the African Tourism Board Launch Event on April 11.

ATB members and WTM visitors will be able to meet Dr. Tarlow at the African Tourism Board Stand (AP 12). His goal is to provide proactive guidance and hands-on approach to keep African destinations, hotels and attractions safe and available specifically for North American Visitors.

Dr. Tarlow is leading SaferTourism’s  Visitor Surety approach, meaning:

• The providing of a safe and secure environment for visitors and for those who work in its visitor industry
• Protection of tourism sites and infrastructure
• Perceptions, including how these perceptions impact its reputation
• The Protection of the economy vis-à-vis its tourism industry

Dr. Tarlow has been working on projects around the world and is known to include feedback from the US State Department in many of his international projects.

Dr. Peter Tarlow will be a speaker at the ATB Launch event on April 11,2019 during WTM Cape Town.

He is a world-renowned speaker and expert specializing in the impact of crime and terrorism on the tourism industry, event and tourism risk management, and tourism and economic development.  Since 1990, Tarlow has been aiding the tourism community with issues such as travel safety and security, economic development, creative marketing, and creative thought.

Tarlow has worked with numerous US government agencies including the US Bureau of Reclamation, US Customs, the FBI, the US Park Service, the Department of Justice, the Speakers Bureau of the US Department of State, the Center for Disease, US Supreme Court police, and the US Department of Homeland Security.  He has worked with such US iconic locations as the Statue of Liberty, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall and Liberty Bell, the Empire State Building, St. Louis’ arch, and the Smithsonian’s Institution’s Office of Protection Services in Washington, DC.

Tarlow has been a keynote speaker for governors’ tourism conferences around the nation including those for Illinois, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington State and Wyoming.

He has addresses large-scale US government meetings for such agencies as:

  • The Bureau of Reclamation
  • The US Center for Disease Control
  • The US Park Service,
  • The International Olympic Committee

On the international scene, he has addressed conferences such as:

  • The Organization of American States (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Panama City, Panama),
  • The Latin American Hotel Association (Quito Ecuador, San Salvador, El Salvador and Puebla, Mexico),
  • The Caribbean Chiefs of Police Association (Barbados),
  • The International Organization for Security and Intelligence – IOSI  ((Vancouver, Canada),
  • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ottowa
  • The French Hotel Association CNI-SYNHORCAT (Paris)

Additionally, Tarlow is a featured speaker for numerous US embassies and with foreign tourism ministries around the world. For example, in his role as an expert in tourism security he has worked with:

  • Vancouver’s Justice Institute  (2010 Olympic games)
  • The police departments of the state of Rio de Janeiro (2014 World Cup Games)
  • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
  • The United Nation’s WTO (World Tourism Organization),
  • The Panama Canal Authority,
  • Police forces in Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Curaçao, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Serbia, and Trinidad & Tobago.

In 2013 the Chancellor of the Texas A&M system named him his Special Envoy.  In 2015 the Faculty of Medicine of Texas A&M University asked Tarlow to “translate” his tourism skills into practical courses for new physicians.  As such he teaches courses in customer service, creative thinking and medical ethics at the Texas A&M medical school

In 2016 the international engineering firm Gannet-Fleming appointed Tarlow its Senior Security and Safety Specialist  Also in 2016, Governor Gregg Abbot of Texas named Tarlow as the Chairman of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. As such he has wide experience in dealing with protest marches and other public events that touch upon that theme.

Tarlow organizes tourism security conferences around the world, including the International Tourism Safety Conference in Las Vegas along with conferences in St. Kitts, Charleston (South Carolina), Bogota, Colombia, Panama City, Croatia, and Curaçao

Tarlow lectures and trains tourism professionals and security personnel in multiple languages on a wide range of current and future trends in the tourism industry, rural tourism economic development, the gaming industry, issues of crime and terrorism, the role of police departments in urban economic development, and international trade.  Some of the other topics about which he speaks are: the sociology of terrorism, its impact on tourism security and risk management, the US government’s role in post terrorism recovery, and how communities and businesses must face a major paradigm shift in the way they do business.

Tarlow publishes extensively in these areas and writes numerous professional reports for US government agencies and for businesses throughout the world.  He has been asked to be an expert witness in courts throughout the United States on matters concerning tourism security and safety, and issues of risk management.

As a well-known author in the field of tourism security, Tarlow is a contributing author to multiple books on tourism security and publishes numerous academic and applied research articles regarding issues of security including articles published in The Futurist, the Journal of Travel Research and Security Management.  Tarlow’s wide range of professional and scholarly articles includes articles on subjects such as: “dark tourism”, theories of terrorism, and economic development through tourism, religion and terrorism and cruise tourism.  Tarlow also writes and publishes the popular online tourism newsletter Tourism Tidbits read by thousands of tourism and travel professionals around the world in its English, Spanish, and Portuguese language editions.

Among the books that Tarlow has authored are:

  • Event Risk Management and Safety (2002).
  • Twenty Years of Tourism Tidbits: The Book (2011)
  • Abordagem Multdisciplinar dos Cruzeiros Turísticos (co-written 2014, in Portuguese)
  • Tourism Security: Strategies for Effective Managing Travel Risk and Safety (2014)
  • A Segurança: Um desafío para os setores de lazer, viagens e turismo, 2016 published (in Portuguese) and republished in English
  • Sports Travel Security  (2017)

At numerous universities around the world Tarlow lectures on security issues, life safety issues, and event risk management. These universities include institutions in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Pacific Islands, and the Middle East.  Tarlow earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Texas A&M University.  He also holds degrees in history, in Spanish and Hebrew literatures, and in psychotherapy.

Tarlow has appeared on national televised programs such as Dateline: NBC and on CNBC and is a regular guest on radio stations around the US.   He is the recipient of the International Chiefs of Police highest civilian honor in recognition for his work in tourism security.

Tarlow is a founder and president of Tourism & More Inc. (T&M).  He is a past president of the Texas Chapter of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA).  Tarlow is a member of the International Editorial Boards around the world.

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UNWTO Convenes Cities in Lisbon to Cooperate on a Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Tourism Agenda

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The first UNWTO Mayors Forum for Sustainable Urban Tourism, co-organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Ministry of Economy of Portugal and the Lisbon Municipality concluded Friday in Lisbon, Portugal. The event gathered Mayors and high-level city representatives from around the world, UN agencies and the private sector, to design a shared leadership aimed at ensuring that tourism helps creating cities for all.

Under the theme ‘Cities for all: building cities for citizens and visitors’, the forum explored issues and solutions for developing and managing tourism in cities in a way that promotes economic growth, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.

In a time of intense debate over the growing number of tourists and the livability and sustainability of cities, the forum exchanged ideas and good practices on urban tourism and destination management, discussed innovative tools and public policies on urban tourism at the national and local levels and way of promoting the integration of tourism into wider national and local urban development agenda.

“The income generated from tourism contributes significantly to the socio-economic and cultural development of many cities and its surroundings. Yet, the growth of urban tourism also creates important challenges in terms of the use of natural resources, socio-cultural impact, pressure on infrastructure, mobility, congestion management and relationship with host communities. Tourism policies should thus be designed as integrated urban policies that promote a well-balanced city economically, socially and environmentally” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili opening the event.

The Portuguese Minister of Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira, acknowledged that “tourism is a major driver for the Portuguese economy. Portugal welcomes this first Mayors Forum as an international stage for discussing the challenges that urban tourism faces and how local communities can benefit the most from tourism. The Lisbon Declaration is a firm commitment from all participants so that tourism contributes materially to the Sustainable Development Goals”.

The Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, added that “social sustainability in tourism is one of the main priorities in our 2027 Tourism Strategy. We launched a Sustainability Program for the development of projects by the civil society that involve local populations and tourists so that tourism leaves value in the territories”.

The Mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina, said “The growth of tourism has important and positive economic impacts. Yet for managing such growth, ensuring sustainability and safeguarding the quality of life of Lisbon’s citizens requires more investment in infrastructure. In Lisbon, we are implementing measures such as increasing transport capacity and investment in urban infrastructure catering for residents and tourists.”

Issues discussed include big data and innovative solutions, new business models, creative cities and events, infrastructure, resources and planning, local community engagement and empowerment and how to ensure the full inclusion of tourism in the wider urban agenda.

Participating in the Forum were Gustavo Santos of Argentina, Secretary of State for Tourism of Argentina, Ana Mendes Godinho, Secretary of State for Tourism of Portugal, Isabel Oliver, the Secretary of State for Tourism of Spain, Mayors and Vice Mayors of 16 cities around the world (Barcelona, Bruges, Brussels, Dubrovnik, Helsinki, Lisbon, Madrid, Moscow, Nur-Sultan, Paris, Porto, Prague, Punta del Este, Tbilisi, Sao Paulo and Seoul), UNES>CO, UN Habitat, the World Bank, the European Committee of the Regions as well as Amadeus, Airbnb, CLIA, Expedia, Mastercard and Unidigital.

The Forum adopted the Lisbon Declaration on Sustainable Urban Tourism, in which participants reinforced their commitment to align urban tourism policies with the United Nations New Urban Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, namely Goal 11 – ‘Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’.

The Lisbon Declaration on Sustainable Urban Tourism will be presented at the twenty-third session of the General Assembly of UNWTO, to be held this September in St. Petersburg, Russia.

During the event, UNWTO Secretary-General and the Mayor Bakhyt Sultanov of Nursultan (Kazakhstan) signed an agreement for the hosting of the 8th UNWTO Global Summit on Urban Tourism, to be held on 9 to 12 October 2019.

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Russia prepares for OTDYKH International Travel Market and UNWTO General Assembly

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Two landmark events in the Russian travel industry – which take place this September – mark not only an important development in Russian travel but also a fantastic opportunity for companies in the travel industry looking to take advantage of the lucrative Russian market.

All eyes in the travel industry will be on Moscow and St. Petersburg this fall, as Russia’s capital gets ready to host the OTDYKH 2019 and Russia’s second major city prepares to host the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization, at which representatives from 156 countries will participate. It is the first time that this biennial event is being hosted by the Russian Federation.

St. Petersburg is the first Russian city to sign a cooperation memorandum with UNWTO, which was signed in July last year in order to facilitate the development of cultural, winter and medical tourism as well as technological advances related to the travel industry.

Visitors can conveniently attend both events, as Moscow and St. Petersburg are connected by a high-speed train which travels between the two cities in just 4 hours.

OTDYKH International Travel Market is Russia’s leading B2B travel and tourism event. Since 1995, OTDYKH Leisure is a traditional meeting spot for travel professionals, including tour operators, private companies as well as national and regional tourism agencies.

In an exciting development in the run-up to OTDYKH, the Republic of Komi and the Republic of Crimea have decided to increase their stands this in order to showcase even more information at the upcoming expo. The expo also welcomes several new-comer Russian regions which are the Republic of Buryatia and the Kemerovo Region – both located in Siberia – the Primorsky Region in the Far Eastern Federal District, and Russia’s largest island, Sakhalin.  In addition to this, 23 other Russian regions have already confirmed their participation in the expo, with many more expected to sign up in the coming months. These include the Republic of Karelia, home to the beautiful Kizhi Island, and the Republic of Tartarstan, of which the capital Kazan receives over a million tourists every year. Last year 44 Russian regions displayed at the expo.

OTDYKH is excited to announce the Hosted Buyers Program 2019. Once again, suppliers will have the opportunity to network with a select group of hosted buyers in the interest of forging valuable working relationships. Last year the expo invited 40 hosted buyers from across 32 cities in Russia to meet the exhibitors.

In addition to the Russia regions, among the 900 participants featured in the expo will be Indonesia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, India, Spain, Greece, Serbia, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka etc. will also be participating. It is the perfect opportunity for travel and tourism related companies to take advantage of the Russian market.

Over 38,000 visitors attended the expo in 2018, as well as 287 media attendees from 80 media partners. This year will feature multiple conference halls with guest speakers and exclusive live performances. The business program will combine all relevant sectors of the tourism value chain, from MICE and Luxury Travel to Health and Gourmet Travel.

Exhibitors are invited to participate and celebrate the 2019 OTDYKH Leisure trade fair and celebrate 25 years of the expo’s continued success. Early-bird offers are available on a first-come-first serve basis to those looking to seize the opportunity to tap-into the Russian travel industry.

For further information please contact Ms. Anna Huber at a.huber@euroexpo-vienna.com International office: +43 1 230 85 35

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1st Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition: Who made the list?

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The 1st Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition recognizes the contribution of startups in the development of a more competitive and sustainable gastronomy tourism sector that works towards achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 SDGs.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Basque Culinary Center (BCC), with the support of PromPeru have announced the finalists of the 1st Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition, which recognize disruptive, inspirational projects having made an invaluable contribution to innovation in gastronomy tourism.

Over 300 initiatives were submitted from over 84 countries. Finalists were selected from Japan, Spain, Israel, Italy and the Czech Republic, ranging from new technologies, community-based tourism development projects, software initiatives and innovation-driven agricultural sustainability projects; all contributing to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The five selected startups will present their pitches to investors, gastronomy tourism experts and sector stakeholders within the framework of the 5th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism (San Sebastian, Spain) on 3 May 2019 where the winner will be selected by a jury.

The winning startup will be invited to take part in the Culinary Action accelerator programme during the second semester of 2019, where it will benefit from the mentoring and advice of the network of experts of BCC Innovation, a workspace in LABe’s Digital Gastronomy Lab project incubator, and a grant of up to 5,000 euros to cover the cost of accommodation and travel during this period.  All finalists will also be invited to present at the Ibero-American Gastronomy Fair (Miami, USA, 9-11 May 2019).

List of Finalists (in alphabetical order):

  1. ARB (Italy)

ARB provides farms, institutions, organisations and associations with technical assistance and support for multifunctional agriculture, diversification of agricultural activities, and innovation projects in agriculture.

  1. ARTHYLEN (Spain)

ARTHYLEN combines deep-learning and augmented reality technologies to facilitate the recognition of fresh products exposed in supermarkets, restaurants or warehouses in real time for hotels and restaurants.

  1. BITEMOJO (Israel)

Bitemojo is an award-winning innovative mobile app that offers a self-guided culinary experience via smartphone.

  1. DINIFY (Czech Republic)

Dinify offers a multilingual menu platform in which restaurants can publish and manage menus in multiple languages in order for travelers to read and order from restaurant menus in their native languages, no matter where they are and what their languages are.

  1. GINKAN (Japan)

GINKAN (SynchroLife) is the world’s first social restaurant review app with artificial intelligence based restaurant recommendations and cryptocurrency token rewards.

List of Semi- Finalists (in alphabetical order):

  1. BOTBOT (Singapore)
  2. CLOUDSALE (Lebanon)
  3. COOKLY (Thailand)
  4. CULTIVIUM (Mauritius)
  5. DINEER (Brazil)
  6. ECOMMUNIA PLANET(Spain)
  7. ESCAPPY TRAVEL (Colombia)
  8. FOLLOW THE FOLK (Spain)
  9. GET UP AND GO COLOMBIA (Colombia)
  10. KIMEGASTROBOT (Spain)
  11. LIMAFOODANDBOAT(Peru)
  12. LINGVO&FOOD (France)
  13. PLANT ON DEMAND  (Spain)
  14. POLOGASTRONOMICO (Portugal)
  15. TERTULIA ALGARVIA (Portugal)

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Carlos Vogeler starts leading position at Ministry of Tourism in Oman

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It appears the implementation of the National Tourism Strategy of Oman is in excellent hands. Last week Carlos Vogeler started a two-year contract with the Ministry of Tourism of Oman, where he is now leading a team that will support Minister Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrizi and his team on implementation.

Carlos Vogeler was considered by many leaders as one of the most influential executives in the travel and tourism world when he served as the executive director of UNWTO under Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. Together with Korean Ambassador Dho Young-shim, Mr. Voegeler was a candidate for UNWTO Secretary-General in 2017.

Mr. Vogeler was with the World Tourism Organization for 9 years. He was honored on November 29, 2017, at the UNWTO Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth in Montego Bay by the Hon. Ed Bartlett, Minister of Tourism of Jamaica.

Before Mr. Carlos Vogeler joined UNWTO in 2005 he was a tenured professor at University “Rey Juan Carlos”, Madrid, at the Dpt. of Business Economics, a regular lecturer at Spanish and International Universities and author of various university textbooks, as well as numerous articles on international tourism structure.

Mr. Vogeler started his career in the private sector at Pullmantur, one of the largest Spanish Tour Operators. During his sixteen years of service from 1974 to 1990, he became Deputy Managing Director and introduced many innovations, namely expanding the number of destinations and products and opening new offices and new markets. He also played an active role in the board of directors of the Spanish Travel Agencies Association of Travel Agencies and in UFTAA (United Federation of Travel Agent’s Associations), where he chaired the committee on road transportation.

From 1991 to 2008 he served in various senior management positions at Group RCI, part of Wyndham Worldwide, one of the world’s largest hospitality groups, quoted in the New York Stock Exchange, where he was Managing Director for South-Western Europe, covering Spain, France, Portugal and Benelux and later Vice president of Global Account Strategy & Industry Relations.

He was elected Chairman of the Affiliate Members of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) from 2005 to 2008, representing Group RCI. Since 1997 he had been serving as Vice President of the board of the Affiliate Members and Chairman of the Business Council and member of the UNWTO Strategic Group.

He is also a founding member of the Spanish Association of Experts in Tourism (AECIT) and was a member of the International Association of Experts in Tourism (AIEST).

Carried out his studies in Canada and in Spain, graduating in Tourism Business Administration by “Escuela Oficial de Turismo de Madrid” (now University Rey Juan Carlos) and post-graduate by the IESE Business School, of the University of Navarra – Spain.

Mr. Vogeler was born in Venezuela of Spanish mother and Venezuelan-German father and is a national of Spain and Venezuela.

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VoyagesAfriq CEO appointed UNWTO Senior Expert for Communications in Africa

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The Managing Editor and CEO of VoyagesAfriq Media Limited, Mr. Kojo Bentum-Williams, has been appointed as the UN World Tourism Organization‘s Senior Expert for Communications in Africa.

This appointment will see him lead communications of the organization’s activities and events in Africa. This new appointment took effect in March 2019 and part of his core mandates is to grow the UNWTO’s ten points agenda in Africa under the Zurab Pololikashvili-led administration.

He is also expected to coordinate with the Africa Department at UNWTO to reach out to members of the African media and hold clinics to further train and inform travel media on the continent.

Kojo is the founder and managing editor of VoyagesAfriq Media Limited, a pan African travel media company which publishes VoyagesAfriq Travel Magazine Quartely and operates the online portal VoyagesAfriq.com.

He previously worked as the press secretary to Ghana’s former ministry of Tourism Culture and Creative Arts until 2014 and also worked a press officer at the Ghana Tourism Authority.

He has covered a wide range of global travel and tourism conferences and he is seen by many as one of the authorities in the affairs of the UN Tourism Agency.

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Facing the Demographic Challenge through Tourism and Innovation

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Facing the Demographic Challenge through Tourism and Innovation”, opening event today was attended by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez; Spain’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, María Reyes Maroto; the President of the Junta de Castilla y León, Juan Vicente Herrera; the Mayor of Segovia, Clara Isabel Luquero; and UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili.  The forum was held in Segovia Spain by the World Tourism Organization.

Tourism and innovation were highlighted as key solutions to address the depopulation being suffered by the rural environment at the forum entitled “Facing the Demographic Challenge through Tourism and Innovation” in Segovia, which gathered together more than one hundred people with the objective of finding solutions from the tourism sector to combat this phenomenon.

“The UNWTO wants to work alongside Spain to turn the discussion on the challenge of rural depopulation into a conversation about the opportunities that the rural environment represents,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, showing the United Nations agency’s  support in searching for solutions through tourism. He added: “The 2030 Agenda is committed to leaving no one behind, including rural areas and their inhabitants.”

Likewise, he pointed out that as a sector that represents one of every ten jobs in the world—in 2019, the UNWTO is dedicating the year especially to education, the development of professional skills and employment—quality training in tourism and innovation are very necessary to face these challenges and ensure the survival of the rural environment.

The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, highlighted the efforts being made by the UNWTO and advocated the creation of opportunities in the interior regions of Spain through rural tourism, digital transformation and new models of economic activity. He announced that the Government would review the guidelines of the National Strategy to address the demographic challenge. He said that in the Strategy, “the tourism sector is a key driver”, adding that Spain is “a global power with a large margin for improvement in the interior of the country”, said Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain.

During the event, leading figures from the political, business and cultural spheres addressed the challenges posed by the gradual loss of population in rural areas. In addition, many experts in the field discussed the role of rural tourism as a tool for socio-economic revitalization, sustainability and territorial rebalancing.

Thus, the first round table, moderated by Asís Martín de Cabiedes, President of Europa Press, discussed on the challenges of overcoming the depopulation of rural areas in developed countries. For her part, Spain’s High Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda, Cristina Gallach, moderated a second panel of experts focused on the relevance of the tourism sector for sustainability and territorial rebalancing.

Furthermore, various successful cases of public-private collaboration were analysed, with SEGITTUR providing insights into the field of smart destinations.

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African Tourism Board tackles visitor surety to keep Africa safe for visitors

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The official launch of the newly-founded African Tourism Board is only two weeks away, and the U.S.-based interim Chairman Juergen T. Steinmetz explained the organization’s commitment to keep Africa safe for visitors.

“Knowing weak points and confronting problems is the best approach.”

The African Tourism Board is working with Dr. Peter Tarlow to offer his decades of knowledge and workable approach to African members in the public and private travel and tourism industry.

ATB invited Dr. Tarlow to deliver a keynote address at the upcoming African Tourism Board launch event on April 11 during World Travel Market.

A variety of international speakers are on the impressive list of the launch event. ATB will be introducing an African-based president, while the US-based interim chairman Juergen Steinmetz will stay on as an advisor as he hands over leadership to the new president.

Among the speakers are Dr. Peter Tarlow, head of certified.travel, which had recently merged activities with eTN Corporation.

Dr. Peter Tarlow has been working for over two decades with hotels, tourism-oriented cities and countries, and both public and private security officers and police in the field of tourism security.

Tourism and More international staff includes some of the leading experts in the field. Dr. Peter Tarlow is a world-renowned expert in the field and a highly-published author.

Dr. Peter E. Tarlow is an internationally-recognized speaker and expert specializing in the impact of crime and terrorism on the tourism industry, event and tourism risk management, and tourism and economic development. Since 1990, Dr. Tarlow has been aiding the tourism community with issues such as travel safety and security, economic development, creative marketing, and creative thought.

Dr. Tarlow is currently consulting the travel security team for the Jamaica Ministry of Tourism.

Peter Tarlow has worked with numerous US government agencies including the US Bureau of Reclamation, US Customs, the FBI, the US Park Service, the Department of Justice, the Speakers Bureau of the US Department of State, the Center for Disease, US Supreme Court police, and the US Department of Homeland Security. He has worked with such US iconic locations as the Statue of Liberty, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall and Liberty Bell, the Empire State Building, St. Louis’ arch, and the Smithsonian’s Institution’s Office of Protection Services in Washington, DC.

Dr. Tarlow has been a keynote speaker for governors’ tourism conferences around the nation including those for Illinois, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington State, and Wyoming.

He has addresses large-scale US government meetings for such agencies as:

  • The Bureau of Reclamation
  • The US Center for Disease Control
  • The US Park Service
  • The International Olympic Committee

On the international scene he has addressed conferences such as:

  • The Organization of American States (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Panama City, Panama)
  • The Latin American Hotel Association (Quito Ecuador, San Salvador, El Salvador and Puebla, Mexico)
  • The Caribbean Chiefs of Police Association (Barbados)
  • The International Organization for Security and Intelligence – IOSI  ((Vancouver, Canada)
  • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ottowa
  • The French Hotel Association CNI-SYNHORCAT (Paris)

Additionally, Dr. Tarlow is a featured speaker for numerous US embassies and with foreign tourism ministries around the world. For example, in his role as an expert in tourism security, he has worked with:

  • Vancouver’s Justice Institute  (2010 Olympic games)
  • The police departments of the state of Rio de Janeiro (2014 World Cup Games)
  • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  • The United Nation’s WTO (World Tourism Organization)
  • The Panama Canal Authority
  • Police forces in Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Curaçao, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Serbia, and Trinidad & Tobago

In 2013, the Chancellor of the Texas A&M system named him his Special Envoy. In 2015, the Faculty of Medicine of Texas A&M University asked Dr. Tarlow to “translate” his tourism skills into practical courses for new physicians. As such, he teaches courses in customer service, creative thinking, and medical ethics at the Texas A&M medical school.

In 2016, the international engineering firm Gannet-Fleming appointed Dr. Tarlow its Senior Security and Safety Specialist. Also in 2016, Governor Gregg Abbot of Texas named Peter as the Chairman of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. As such, he has wide experience in dealing with protest marches and other public events that touch upon that theme.

Dr. Tarlow organizes tourism security conferences around the world, including the International Tourism Safety Conference in Las Vegas along with conferences in St. Kitts, Charleston (South Carolina), Bogota, Colombia, Panama City, Croatia, and Curaçao.

He lectures and trains tourism professionals and security personnel in multiple languages on a wide range of current and future trends in the tourism industry, rural tourism economic development, the gaming industry, issues of crime and terrorism, the role of police departments in urban economic development, and international trade. Some of the other topics about which he speaks are: the sociology of terrorism, its impact on tourism security and risk management, the US government’s role in post terrorism recovery, and how communities and businesses must face a major paradigm shift in the way they do business.

Dr. Tarlow publishes extensively in these areas and writes numerous professional reports for US governmental agencies and for businesses throughout the world. He has been asked to be an expert witness in courts throughout the United States on matters concerning tourism security and safety, and issues of risk management.

As a well-known author in the field of tourism security, Dr. Tarlow is a contributing author to multiple books on tourism security, and he publishes numerous academic and applied research articles regarding issues of security including articles published in The Futurist, the Journal of Travel Research, and Security Management. His wide range of professional and scholarly articles include subjects such as: “dark tourism,” theories of terrorism, economic development through tourism, and religion and terrorism and cruise tourism. Dr. Tarlow also writes and publishes the popular on-line tourism newsletter Tourism Tidbits read by thousands of tourism and travel professionals around the world in its English, Spanish, and Portuguese language editions.

Among the books that Dr. Tarlow has authored are:

  • Event Risk Management and Safety(2002).
  • Twenty Years of Tourism Tidbits: The Book (2011)
  • Abordagem Multdisciplinar dos Cruzeiros Turísticos (co-written 2014, in Portuguese)
  • Tourism Security: Strategies for Effective Managing Travel Risk and Safety (2014)
  • A Segurança: Um desafío para os setores de lazer, viagens e turismo, 2016 published (in Portuguese) and republished in English
  • Sports Travel Security (2017)

At numerous universities around the world, Dr. Tarlow lectures on security issues, life safety issues, and event risk management. These universities include institutions in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Pacific Islands, and the Middle East. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Texas A&M University and also holds degrees in history, in Spanish and Hebrew literatures, and in psychotherapy.

Dr. Tarlow has appeared on national televised programs such as Dateline: NBC and on CNBC and is a regular guest on radio stations around the US. He is the recipient of the International Chiefs of Police highest civilian honor in recognition for his work in tourism security.

Peter is a founder and president of Tourism & More Inc. (T&M). Tourism & More recently joined forces with the eTN Corporation under certified.travel.

He is a past president of the Texas Chapter of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA), and Dr. Tarlow is a member of the International Editorial Boards around the world.

For more on the African Tourism Board and the launch event in Cape Town on April 11, visit africantourismboard.com.

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