UNWTO General Assembly Morocco: A secret not yet revealed?

UNWTOMorocco | eTurboNews | eTN
SEGOVIA, SPAIN - MARCH 26: The general secretary of the World Tourism Organization, Zurab Pololikashvili, is seen at the opening act of the WTO Forum on March 26, 2019 in Segovia, Spain. (Photo by Nacho Valverde/Europa Press via Getty Images)

The UNWTO was preparing for the 24th General Assembly in Morocco.
Informed sources told eTurboNews, this GA is postponed, but why is Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili keeping this as a secret so far, not informing UNWTO member states?

  1. Rumors from informed sources suggest the UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili decided on a postponement of the 2021 24th General Assembly currently scheduled for Morocco.
  2. Morrocco as a responsible host should have an interest in new dates for the UNWTO event to avoid conflicts with COVID-19 developments.
  3. Why are UNWTO members not yet been informed?

The UNWTO General Assembly, held in Marrakech, will be the first international high-level UN event since COVID-19 put the world in lockdown. This was national news for the World when Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvil was re-elected in January this year.

At the time of Zurab’s January election in Spain went through a national disaster due to cold weather combined with a lockdown due to a dangerous spike in COVID cases.

Two previous Secretary-General of UNWTO urged Zurab to postpone the election in January for the safety of candidates, to allow delegates to attend, and specifically for others to enter the race.

It appeared this was the last on the mind of the SG at the time eager to win his re-election in manipulating the timing, even though it clearly disrespected Bahrain.

In February UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili led the UNWTO delegation and visited Morocco to discuss the details of the upcoming statutory meeting focusing on Education and Youth, Rural Development, and Digital Innovation, and the General Assembly

Moroccan Minister of Tourism Nadia Fettah Alaoui, accompanying the delegation over the three-day visit, expressed Morocco’s commitment to hosting a “historic” General Assembly. She also stressed the importance of reviving international tourism in a safe and sustainable way.

The Moroccan tourism sector, which lost out on $4.77 billion (MAD 42.4 billion) in 2020 due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions, is looking for the means to give the country an economic boost in a post-pandemic world.
Morocco 37.5 million.

Currently, Morocco, a country in North Africa ranks 124 in the world in COVID19 cases. Morocco is 110 with 251 death per million,

In comparison, Spain has rank 38 in cases, and 25 in death.

If the postponement of the General Assembly is confirmed, it would show Moroccos true commitment to world tourism and keep this planet safe. It also shows the commitment to share the responsibility of rebuilding tourism with the world, and not only a few that could attend a General Assembly in current times.


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About the author

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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