"Improving training and attracting talent are key to maintaining Spain's tourism competitiveness and leadership", says Reyes Maroto

Within the framework of the 23rd General Assembly of the World Trade Organization (UNWTO), Reyes Maroto spoke in a debate on education and employment in tourism, in which she also pointed to the importance of reputation in the sector, and mentioned the Master Plan for Dignified Work, implemented by the government, "which has led to an improvement in the working conditions of more than 14,000 workers, and reduced the gender gap in a very female-orientated sector".

She also said that tourism is a lever to combat the demographic challenge, and quoted the Smart Destinations Network, developed by Segittur, as an example of the opportunities that digitalisation can offer to develop new products and improve destination management. The panel was completed with representatives from the Governments of Russia, Portugal, the Seychelles, Egypt, Croatia, Colombia and Portugal, among others.

At the plenary session held on Wednesday, the acting minister stated that tourism is a political priority and recalled that Spain heads up the Tourism Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, something that "spurs us on to continue working on the new governance of the tourism model which serves as a lever to develop the Sustainable Development Goals. Tourism must be an element of transformation, a creator of jobs and of social well-being". She also recalled that, to this end, the government approved the bases for defining a Sustainable Tourism Strategy 2030, in line with the guidelines of the UNWTO. "It is important for tourism to be addressed in a cross-cutting fashion and to better harness the value it offers to continue being a global tourism powerhouse in the field of sustainability, accessibility, environmental respect and gender equality policies".

Reyes Maroto completed her working agenda in Saint Petersburg with bilateral meetings with different delegations, among them, the delegation from South Korea (2020 is the seventieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and it will be the guest country at FITUR), and a working meeting with the CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Gloria Guevara.

Non official translation