GTEF | Pansy Ho appointed UNWTO ambassador in Macau

Pansy Ho (left) and Zurab Pololikashvili

Pansy Ho, the vice chairman and secretary general of the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) was nominated as the first ambassador in Macau of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili made the announcement during his keynote speech yesterday at the opening ceremony of the 7th GTEF, which closes today in Macau.

“We decided to have the first Ambassador of UNWTO in Macau. It will be a fantastic lady, who is from Macau. She will be our first Ambassador in the region,” Pololikashvili said, before calling Ho to the stage.

The UNWTO Secretary General acknowledged Ho’s great service to the organization and its members over the years. Pololikashvili also noted the relevance of the organization of the GTEF in Macau saying, “This forum is an example of Macau’s long-term economic vision and priorities [given] to tourism development.”

He added, “Today is an historic day for the region and for Macau and Guangdong province. I’m very proud, very glad and honored to participate from the opening and celebration of the ‘Greater Bay Area’ region with the connection between Macau, Hong Kong and nine cities in mainland China. This is a great project, unique in the world and I’m sure that this is another huge opportunity to attract more and more tourists in the region.”

The Secretary General highlighted the importance of the project in the region, which is “the fastest growing region for tourism in China.”

According to Pololikashvili, one-third of all Chinese tourists travelling around the world come from Guangdong province, and thus he noted the high importance of such a market for everyone, with a special focus on the European Union (EU).

“The Greater Bay Area vision can help with its innovation, infrastructure and connectivity to make our sector grow better now and in the future [and also] will help to speed up the transition from manufacturing [sector] to services [sector] positively impacting the tourism across the region,” he said, adding that Macau represents an important pillar of such a construction, taking the opportunity to reveal that, for the upcoming year, the theme of the GTEF will be “Tourism and Sports.”

“Macau is small, but with big success, especially in tourism. We are very glad and proud to be with you and I want to announce that [for] the next Global Tourism Economy Forum, the main topic will be ‘Tourism and Sports’ and I’m sure that will be another very important event,” Pololikashvili announced.

Pololikashvili also described one of the important roles of the UNWTO – The role of education – and to this end announced the furthering of the cooperation with the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), which will be the host of the first edition of the UNWTO Asia-Pacific Academy this year.

“IFT is a very strong supporter [of our event] and we are also a very strong supporter of education and we can announce that this year, we will have the first presence of the UNWTO Academy in Asia-Pacific region, which will be [held] in Macau,” he concluded.

EU-china year of tourism seeking to build ‘Bridges between people’

ADDRESSING THE audience in her keynote speech, Carmen Cano de Lasala, the head of the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macau, has noted that the purpose of the establishment of the Year of Tourism between the European Union (EU) and China is “a year full of initiatives seeking to connect our people closer together.” The diplomat added that such a strategy is not restricted to China, but to Asia in general, noting that it is a wish of the European Union (EU) to seek and create links with its partners in Asia “while promoting our values,” she said, noting that “[the] EU wants to give a fresh impetus to its relationship with Asia, and tourism is an important part of our strategy.”