At the upcoming tourism resilience celebration in Jamaica this month, hosted by the Hon. Edmund Bartlett, one of the world’s most experienced and longest-serving tourism ministers, Zurab Pololikashvili could surprise him and those attending this important event.
A Brilliant Move by Zurab Pololikashvili
It would be a brilliant move, and Zurab Pololikashvili would receive a standing ovation. He would restore his legacy by announcing he would not run for a third term.
It would open the door to honest competition between the five remaining candidates for UN Tourism Secretary-General starting in 2016.
Three more candidates to be announced for UN-Tourism SG
According to eTN sources, three more candidates had entered the race.
Zurab’s persistence in changing rules and manipulating the system to make this unprecedented move to run for a third term possible has raised many eyebrows.
Rumors are floating around that he may do the right thing for himself and UN Tourism—and there would be no better place in the world to do this than Jamaica.
According to unconfirmed information received by eTurboNews, five other Secretary candidates had entered the race. The deadline for submitting the paperwork was January 31, but UN-Tourism won’t officially confirm until the end of the month.
What is confirmed is that Gloria Guevara is competing. The former CEO and President of the World Travel and Tourism Council, former Minister of Tourism for Mexico, and top advisor to the Saudi Arabian Minister of Tourism is working hard to have UN Tourism member countries appreciate her experience and desire to make a difference in this sector.
It’s also confirmed that Harry Theoharis, the former minister of tourism during COVID-19 for EU member Greece, has been working hard and, according to him, made significant progress in convincing countries to vote for him. The African Tourism Board endorsed him, but two new candidates from Africa are now entering the race for this post, and one former candidate joined Gloria Guevara’s team.
One new candidate from Tunisia appears to be a good friend of Zurab Pololikashvili. The other is the ambassador for Ghana to Spain. According to eTN information, the Ghana ambassador entering the race may not qualify.
Mouhamed Faouzou Deme, from Senegal, widely seen as the African candidate, had the blessing of the Senegal president to compete as a candidate but pulled out just days ago to join the campaign for Gloria Guevara together with former Kenya Secretary of Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala.
Suppose Jamaica’s Minister Bartlett, Gloria Guevara, Theoharis, and Deme cannot convince Pololikashvili to do his best for world tourism and skip his ambition to run for a third term. A challenging and most likely ugly fight (perhaps a legal fight) may be forthcoming. Such a fight could embarrass the host of the upcoming UN-Tourism General Assembly in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
