Dominican Republic to Host 1st UN Tourism Africa & Americas Summit

By Guzmán Ariza, Attorneys at Law

United Nations Tourism, along with the Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republic, invited the Members of the Commissions for Africa and the Americas to the 1st UN Tourism Africa & Americas Summit, to be held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on October 2-5, 2024.

In a context marked by global interconnection and cultural diversity, South-South cooperation between Africa and the Americas stands out as a key factor for promoting sustainable development and achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda. Within this dynamic, the promotion of tourism and the strengthening of the creative industry emerge as strategic pillars that not only drive economic growth but also foster mutual understanding, cultural diversity, and the exchange of experiences.

In 2023, the two regions recorded all together 267 million international tourist arrivals, while bringing USD 371 billion in export revenues to the economies of their respective countries. This rebound and increase of international arrivales of almost 31% over 2022 is already having a significant impact on economies, jobs, growth and opportunities for communities everywhere. Between 2018-2023 the two regions have recorded 470 announced FDI greenfield projects in the tourism cluster representing a total capital investment of USD 37.4 billion and creating 131,763 Jobs.

The goals for this summit are:

-To facilitate sustainable investment flows in tourism with the objective of strengthening economic ties between both regions, promoting innovative financing models and partnerships.

-To foster the tourism innovation ecosystems by encouraging entrepreneurship, collaboration between key stakeholders across both regions, spurring the development and adoption of new technologies.

-To promote tourism education, research, and skills development by fostering joint capacity-building initiatives between academic institutions, industry stakeholders, and governmental bodies in key areas, ensuring the continuous growth and sustainability of the tourism sector through innovation and knowledge transfer.

-To amplify the global visibility of cultural products from both regions by facilitating international cultural exchanges.

-To establish cross-regional culinary exchanges and platforms to promote the diverse cuisines, to innovate and fuse culinary traditions, enhancing gastronomy tourism and creating new business opportunities.

-Strengthen diplomatic ties and political cooperation between the countries of Africa and the Americas to promote a common agenda in international forums and address common challenges in areas such as climate change, inequality, cultural preservation, creative economy development, and strategic alliances.