Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) concluded its active participation in the 23rd UNWTO General Assembly session, where it highlighted innovation and its long-standing relationship with UNWTO. The General Assembly took place in St. Petersburg, Russia between 9 – 13 September 2019, with QNTC represented by His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, Secretary-General as well as Mr. Hassan Al Ibrahim, Assistant Secretary General QNTC. H.E. addressed the First Plenary session as keynote speaker, where he focused on the importance of the tourism sector to the economy, along with Qatar’s partnerships with UNWTO. The following day, Mr. Al Ibrahim represented Qatar at a High Level Summit on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Tourism, both as keynote speaker, along with his participation in a Members States Panel.
Al Ibrahim presented a keynote speech titled “Innovation from Policy Design to Implementation” where he spoke of Qatar’s commitment to innovation and the recognition that “development of any sort, particularly if it is to be economically sustainable, must be underpinned by innovative policy that supports effective implementation and furthers our longer-term strategic goals.” Al Ibrahim went on to praise entities such as Qatar Foundation Research Development Innovation, Qatar Development Bank and Qatar Business Incubation Centre, which offer support to innovators across sectors.
He further spoke of QNTC’s function to “facilitate public-private sector partnerships, and empower them to work together in developing new tourism products and projects. New laws and policies have led to a number of large-scale tourism projects being fast-tracked, with others being opened to both local and international private investors.” Qatar’s policies enabling business and innovation have helped garner it second place in the Middle East and North Africa in the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019.
The Assistant Secretary General also referred to the long-standing relationship with the UNWTO: “We value our partnership with UNWTO and are honoured to support their initiatives as they innovate in the tourism sector... We are committed to creativity and innovation, to solving world scale problems, harnessing our human capital while maintaining a balanced relationship with our environment.” To illustrate this commitment, he touched upon the IE University|UNWTO Tourism Online Academy inaugurated the day before in the presence of H.E. Akbar Al Baker, and spoke of the first UNWTO Global Sports Tourism Start-Up Competition, supported by QNTC in collaboration with Futbol Club Barcelona (FCB) Innovation Hub - the agreements for which were signed in April this year, when His Excellency Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General UNWTO visited Qatar.
Al Ibrahim also represented Qatar in the Member States Panel, along with representatives from Chile, Columbia, Hungary and Macao. This Panel allowed Member States to share their experiences about projects developed in collaboration with UNWTO, and outline future objectives around innovation, investment and digital transformation in tourism.
As a United Nations agency, UNWTO is in charge of the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. UNWTO generates market knowledge, promotes competitive and sustainable tourism policies and instruments, fosters tourism education and training, and works to make tourism an effective tool for development.
For media-related inquiries, please contact QNTC’s Press Office on:
+974 4499 7882 or +974 3392 4466 | pressoffice@visitqatar.qa
About Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC)
Qatar National Tourism Council’s mission is to firmly establish Qatar on the global map as a place where cultural authenticity meets modernity, and where people of the world come together to experience unique offerings in culture, sports, business and family entertainment.
QNTC’s work is guided by the Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy (QNTSS), which seeks to diversify the country’s tourism offering and increase the sector’s contribution to Qatar’s economy by 2030. In 2017, the Next Chapter of QNTSS was launched, charting the next five years (2018-2023) of the tourism sector’s growth.
In 2018, QNTC launched a global destination campaign under the tagline 'Qatar, Qurated for you.' Curating requires professional or expert knowledge to select, organise and present unique experiences. As such, the Qurated campaign plays on the word's definition and the destination brand's iconic Q to underscore the country's focus on delivering tailored visitor-centric experiences.
Since launching QNTSS, Qatar has welcomed over 12 million visitors. The economic impact of the tourism sector in Qatar is becoming increasingly visible with 2017 estimates showing a total (direct and indirect) contribution to Qatar’s GDP of 6.6%. www.visitqatar.qa
@NTC_Qatar
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