UNWTO and WHO Form a Union of Health and Tourism

With the aim to strengthen the bond between tourism and public health in some of Europe’s smallest states, UNWTO and WHO’s Regional Office for Europe will be working alongside each other.

Ever since COVID-19 hit the world, every major agency of the UN has been working tirelessly to build more sustainability and flexibility in the economies and public health systems. After taking important lessons from the pandemic, UNWTO and WHO will collaborate with strong cooperation. UNWTO promoted the importance of health and sustainability of tourism in small countries, including the 11 European countries that have a population of less than 2 million during the eighth high-level meeting of the WHO/Europe Small Countries Initiative (SCI) in Bečići, Montenegro.

Zurab Pololikashvili, the Secretary-General of UNWTO stated during this meeting: “COVID-19 showed that any crisis that threatens the health, safety and security of people, communities and the environment is also a risk to tourism itself. I am confident that strong cooperation at all levels will place health high on the tourism agenda. It will make for healthy tourists, healthy communities, a healthy environment, and healthy economies for current and future generations.”

The ministerial event was organised with the theme “Towards better health and well-being in small countries of the WHO European Region” and emphasised two major issues which are at priority level one for small countries. The first of the two issues centres around emergencies, namely long-term prevention, health system response and recovery. While the second one focuses on creating healthy and sustainable tourism facilities. The “Roadmap towards better health in small countries in the WHO European Region 2022–2025” was introduced during the meeting and the attendees unanimously adopted the  “Montenegro Statement”.

The “Montenegro Statement” raises the deep interconnectivity of health and tourism holds and emphasises the powerful impact the reopening of the travel and tourism sector will have on the economic growth of the small European countries. It also highlights the impact of cooperation and collaboration of the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the UNWTO in the union of health and tourism.

From the start of the pandemic, UNWTO and WHO have constantly supported each other every step of the way to building a safer and sustainable world for tourists. WHO even took part in the Global Tourism Crisis Committee to provide guidance to the tourism sector in preparing themselves for any unforeseen challenges that could possibly arise. The committee is working towards collecting scientific evidence to make data-driven decisions to restart tourism.