UNWTO signed this week new Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with five of its Affiliate Members – the Real Academia de Gastronomía (Spain), Spain Cares (Spain), Student Marketing (Slovakia), the Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (Spain), and VIP World Events (Spain) (Madrid, Spain, 6-7 July 2015).
The MoUs aim to enhance collaboration between UNWTO and the respective Affiliate Member in the areas of research and the promotion of best practices. In particular, the future cooperation activities include:
– Real Academia de Gastronomía: Development of gastronomic tourism and collaboration with the UNWTO Gastronomy Network.
– Spain Cares: Research on health tourism, including collaboration in the publication of a Global Report on health tourism and public-private collaboration in specialized segments.
– Student Marketing: Cooperation in the publication of a Global Report on Youth Tourism.
– Universidad Internacional de la Rioja: Research, knowledge exchange and promotion of best practices, namely on wine tourism, participation in the UNWTO Knowledge Network, the UNWTO Gastronomy Network and Working Group on Youth Tourism
– VIP World Events: Research on the high end segments of tourism.
“Partnerships are a priority for UNWTO and we are very pleased to consolidate our relationships with such active UNWTO Affiliate Members through these agreements”, said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai highlighting that “cooperation between public, private sector and the academia are fundamental pillars to advance knowledge and competitiveness in our sector”.
In a structure unique to the United Nations system, in addition to its 156 Member States, UNWTO counts on over 450 Affiliate Members from various fields in the public and private sector, civil society and academia.
