Gloria’s good trouble is the avalanche of endorsements that are pouring in by the day from every corner of the travel industry.
It’s coming to a final countdown for the six candidates competing for the job the work of three candidates stand out. Zurab Pololikashvili, the current UN-Tourism Secretary general is not listening, not to the many countries, not even two his two previous collegues, Professor Secretary General Francesco Frangialli, and Dr. Taleb Rifai, both urging him to step aside out of many good reasons, specifically the fact that a rotation in a UN system is expected, and a third term in a UN agency has been unheard of.
Shamefully Zurab has been using UN-Tourism money and resources to remain in the race, while the other candidates are having a fair competition.
Harry Theoharis quiet approach
Harry Theoharis campaign has been campaigning in the background and with the help by his prime minister. According to posts to his social media, he is consistance by joining his fellow candidates to demand no third term or the current secretary general. A European Africa conference he hosted in Greece just concluded after traveling the globe, speaking at the European Parliament, and meeting with ministers. Him and Gloria both attended and spoke at the tourism resilience conferennce hosted by Jamaica Minister of Tourism Bartlett in Montego Bay recently.
Gloria Guevara the Champion when it comes to widespread support from everywhere
Gloria Guevara has been in the spotlight traveling the world in record speed listening to all voices. The press apparently loves her, and the simple way she is able to explain complicated issues.
With her ambition to become the first woman in this job, she is an inspiration for many, not only women. Her support not only by governments, by two former SG, but from all corners of the private sector, and academica is nothing but spectacular. It appears her support is not geographically bound.
The World Tourism Network Chapter Indonesia, under the leadership of Chairwoman Mudi Astutui, arranged for GIPI, the Confederation of Indonesian Tourism Association, with more than 30 members in Indonesia, to urge the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, HE Minister., Mr. Sugiono to endorse UN-Tourism Candidate Gloria Guevara for Scretary General.
Indonesia is a voting country as a member of the UN-Tourism Executive Council.
Academica speaks out for Gloria Guevara
Dear UNTourism Member States,
We, the undersigned, as experts from leading academic institutions, are pleased to offer our strong endorsement of Gloria Guevara as the next Secretary General for UN Tourism for the 2026-2029 term.
This was the voice of 20 academic institutions from various parts of the world:
The Private Industry Speaks out for Gloria Guevara in Mass
Endorsements from the largest companies in the world in the travel and tourism world are pouring into the endorsement portfolio for Gloria Guevara, but it doesn’t stop with the largest giants of the industry. Medium and small sized companies in the world trusting in Gloria to not only make a difference politically, but as a woman, and a person well familiar with the private industry anywhere. They saying this in a joint letter:
Dear UN Tourism Member States,
We, the undersigned, are writing to express our full and unequivocal endorsement of Gloria Guevara as the next Secretary General of UN Tourism.
Having known and/or worked with Gloria for many years, from her tenure as Minister of Tourism of Mexico and later in her leadership roles at the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and at the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, we can confidently attest to her exceptional leadership and her outstanding ability to bring together the public and private sectors to make lasting positive impact on the tourism sector.
Throughout her 35-year career in tourism, Gloria has demonstrated unparalleled expertise in creating jobs, fostering investment, and driving sustainable growth across the global tourism sector.
We believe that Gloria’s unique blend of public and private sector experience, combined with her global vision and strategic foresight, uniquely qualifies her to serve as Secretary General and lead UN Tourism into the future.
In particular, we recognise:
- Her focus on increasing the value to member states of UN Tourism by being totally Member-centric
- The commitment to developing an enabling environment to fuel innovation, entrepreneurship and investment; as well as supporting growth and skills development within the sector
- Gloria´s ability to enhance crisis readiness and resilience; as well as boost tourism´s overal seat at the table of the wider UN ecosystem
We respectfully request the support of your government given your involvement in the decision- making process, as we firmly believe Gloria Guevara is the best candidate for this critic.
What counts of course is only the support by delegates that are allowed to vote in the upcoming elections 29-30 May in Madrid.
Delegates are representing member countries in their position as the Executive Council of UN-Tourism. Delegates are usually ministers of tourism, and with this they are politciians.
Guevara hopes these politicians are listen to the private industry in their countries, and understand UN-Tourism is not only an organizations for political purpose, but for the representation of the tourism econmic sector in the world. Many say tourism is the largest on industry on the globe, counting for 10% of all jobs, that are of course mostly in privat hands.
