Watch this side event on YouTube!
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all economic and social sectors around the world. The tourism sector, in particular, has been severely impacted due to its intrinsic dependence on the mobility of people, which was significantly limited due to the restrictions and containment measures imposed by governments to control the spread of the virus. This situation affected more seriously the countries, regions and communities that are more dependent on tourism, such as the European Union and the Latin American and Caribbean Region. In both cases, tourism has an important multiplier effect in various sectors of the economy, due to links with agriculture, food, construction, transport, creative industries, among others.
Within this context, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the EU-LAC Foundation organized a virtual side event to the Seventy-sixth Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 76), which focused on the theme "Building Resilience through Hope: Recovering from COVID-19, rebuilding sustainability, responding to the needs of the Planet, respecting the rights of the people and revitalize the United Nations." This side event was named "Digital and inclusive innovations to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and sustainably transform tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union" took place on Monday, September 28 at 10:00 a.m. EDT / 16:00 p.m. CEST.
With this side event to the UNGA 76, the EU-LAC Foundation and UNDP inaugurated a cycle of five events on sustainable tourism which are open to the interested public and seek to foster bi-regional dialogue involving different actors such as policymakers, entrepreneurs, civil society and researchers in joint reflections on the necessary conditions and paths to move towards a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive social, economic, cultural, and environmental tourism sector that can contribute to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda.
Access the concept note and the Agenda in the attachment.