It’s official: Six candidates for the post of UN Tourism Secretary-General will compete to lead World Tourism starting in 2026.
The election will be held during the 123rd session of the UN Tourism Executive Council Meeting in Madrid on May 29-30, 2025. The elected candidate must be confirmed at the next UN Tourism General Assembly in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
- Mr. Muhammad Adam (Ghana)
- Ms. Shaikha Al Nowais (United Arab Emirates)
- Mr. Habir Ammar (Tunisia)
- Ms. Gloria Guevara (Mexico)
- Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili (Georgia)
- Mr. Harry Theoharis (Greece)
The competition can officially begin, and the manipulation by the current secretary and third-time candidate from Georgia is also reaching a new height in UN history.
Instead of using two terms as his legacy, Zurab Pololikashvili, who has been ignoring UN agency policies for a two-time term limit, found a way to manipulate rules based on a technicality so he can hold on to his chair for another term.
What is outrageous is that Zurab just released his statement that he wanted Madrid to be a symbol of international tourism by opening a new headquarters primarily financed with Spanish and Saudi money.
He ignores ongoing criminal investigations against him in Madrid and the fact that Spain will not vote for him and that he won the two previous elections only due to manipulation and fraud.
While he claimed to concentrate on daily issues and UN tourism goals, he has been using UN resources for his campaign, promising countries with executive council status to host regional UN tourism centers, such as Brazil or Morocco. Only countries with executive council status are allowed to vote. These countries are:
- 1. Argentina (2025)
- 2. Armenia (2025)
- 3. Azerbaijan (2025)
- 4. Bahrain (2025)
- 5. Brazil (2025)
- 6. Bulgaria (2027)
- 7. Cabo Verde (2025)
- 8. China (2027)
- 9. Colombia (2027)
- 10. Croatia (2025)
- 11. Czechia (2027)
- 12. Democratic Rep. of Congo (2027)
- 13. Dominican Republic (2025)
- 14. Georgia (2025)
- 15. Ghana (2027)
- 16. Greece (2025)
- 17. India (2025)
- 18. Indonesia (2027)
- 19. Iran (Islamic Republic of) (2025)
- 20. Italy (2027)
- 21. Jamaica (2027)
- 22. Japan (2027)
- 23. Lithuania (2027)
- 24. Morocco(2025)
- 25. Mozambique (2025)
- 26. Namibia (2027)
- 27. Nigeria (2027)
- 28. Republic of Korea (2027)
- 29. Rwanda (2027)
- 30. Saudi Arabia (2027)
- 31. South Africa (2025)
- 32. Spain (Permanent Member)
- 33. United Arab Emirates (2025)
- 34. United Rep. of Tanzania (2027)
- 35. Zambia (2025)
To top it off, Zurab’s modus manipulation is the new Madrid headquarters, and satellite openings will coincide with the Executive Council meeting in Madrid to elect a new secretary general.
Current Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili faces intense competition, with two candidates emerging as his strongest contenders and three new candidates announced recently.
Rumors float that some candidates are running as part of the Zurab manipulation campaign to confuse the vote for his advantage. It will become apparent soon which candidates come with a serious mind, plan, and experience for this post to lead world tourism.
These are former Greek Tourism Minister during COVID Harry Theoharis and Mexican Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara. Guevara garnered public support from governments and major private industries due to her former position as the World Travel and Tourism Council CEO. Harry Theoharis has presented his plan during the recently concluded Tourism Resilience Day in Jamaica.
Gloria and Harry attended the recent Tourism Resilience Day in Jamaica. At the same time, Zurab Pololkashvili only promised to participate but was a no-show for a good reason. He didn’t want to face his contenders in public and avoid unfriendly media, such as eTurboNews. Showing openness and transparency, Gloria and Harry sat beside each other and engaged in intense conversations at the resilience celebrations.
Who are the three new candidates joining the race?
Mohammed Amin Adam (Ghana) was born on April 15, 1974, and is a Ghanaian politician who served as the Minister of Finance from February 2024 to January 2025. He is popularly referred to as Amin Anta and was credited with the opening of the new airport.
Before assuming his role as the Minister for Finance, he served as a Minister of State at the Finance Ministry. Before his appointment, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam was the Deputy Minister for Energy responsible for the Petroleum Sector and the Deputy Regional Minister for the Northern Region in 2005. He has worked extensively on extractive industries and Resource Management as a University lecturer, advisor on Resource Governance, and campaigner for transparency in resource management around the globe.
He has been the ambassador for Ghana in Spain since 2021, and unconfirmed feedback says he wanted to stay in Spain instead of returning to his home country, Ghana. His tourism experience seems to be limited.
Ms. Shaikha Al Nowais (United Arab Emirates)
Shaikha Al Nowais is the Corporate Vice President of Owner Relationship Management at Rotana, a hotel company owned by her family. It’s progressive for a single Arab lady to compete for a post that would require her to relocate to another country.
Habib Ammar, from Tunisia, was the Minister of Tourism in Tunisia. He was CEO of the Tunisian National Tourism Office ONTT from 2010 to 2014 and chief of staff to the Minister of Tourism from 2008 to 2010.
He has held many positions in various ministerial departments, including Director of the Tourist Upgrading Office at the Ministry of Tourism (September 2005 to February 2008).
