ENIT and the Ministry of Tourism at first United Nations session on tourism
PRESS RELEASE
FIRST U.N. SESSION ON TOURISM: MITUR AND ENIT IN AMERICA TO EXPORT SUSTAINABILITY IN A RECOVERING MARKET
Tourism enters high-level debates at the United Nations Assembly, with the first summit focused on “Putting sustainable and resilient tourism at the heart of an inclusive recovery.” Italy’s Minister of Tourism Massimo Garavaglia and ENIT CEO Roberta Garibaldi met bilaterally with the Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Maurizio Massari, the President of the General Assembly Abdulla Shahid, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, the Minister of Tourism of the Maldives, Abdulla Mausoom, and the Minister of Tourism of Spain, María Reyes Maroto.
An intensive discussion on the topic of inclusiveness and sustainability in tourism to take stock and give a uniform direction to the industry worldwide. At the centre are the challenges faced through the recovery of tourism to reconcile the potential trade-offs between the need for economic growth and job creation, and tourism tailor-made for people, with an emphasis on accelerating the transformation to eco-compatibility.
Data from the report of ENIT in collaboration with Europe in the Eco Tandem project, which surveyed a sample of more than 3500 hotel and non-hotel enterprises on the subject of environmentally conscious practices to support the ecological transition, showed that among enterprises about 40 percent tend to encourage the consumption of local products and reduce waste as well as sustainable leisure activities. Almost half support the importance of investing in pollution-reducing technologies.
This was followed by a round table with the “Sistema Italia”: representatives of ENIT, ICE, Bank of Italy, the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce and CONI met at the Consulate General of Italy and at a discussion with agencies, tour operators and representatives of the Italian-American community. The US market has proven to be one of the most dynamic during the recovery with +1610% growth in April, +1290% over the month of May (compared to e.g., the UK, which with similar declines the previous year shows +1100% and +640%). According to Google data on the last 30 days, American tourists were the most engaged in looking for accommodations after the Germans. ENIT promotional actions will aim at the luxury, MICE, wedding, and food and wine sectors.
Francesca Cicatelli
ENIT Press Office
Phone: (+39) 392.9225216
e-mail: francesca.cicatelli@enit.it