Development of city breaks can enhance tourism’s benefits on societies and the economy, which is at the core of UNWTO’s mission. To discuss city tourism in details, UNWTO organizes a conference.
The UNWTO Conference on City Breaks: Creating Innovative Experiences will be held 15-16 October 2018 in Valladolid, Spain.
The conference, the first of its kind, will address different areas of specialization that can help urban destinations be successfully positioned for city break tourism. It will explore the range of innovative activities that cities can offer tourists, and focus on how innovation in technology, governance and partnerships can ignite public-private collaboration and generate opportunities along the entire tourism value chain.
The conference will marry the importance of a sustainable urban tourism agenda with the ongoing discussion on innovation and digital transformation in tourism, which forms one of UNWTO’s priorities. It will be held in Valladolid, a popular Spanish city destination committed to a tourism strategy that prioritizes adventure, wine and cultural tourism, amongst other areas.
City tourism is one of the fastest growing segments worldwide, attracting tourists for both business and leisure and generating income that supports socio-economic and cultural development. Concurrently, around half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and this figure will grow to 70% by 2050. To manage the pressures of population growth and of tourism growth, new technologies and innovation are needed to make cities more efficient, better planned and better managed.
Consequently UNWTO is setting an urban tourism vision for 2030 that will help build cities for all: residents and visitors alike. As well as in Valladolid, this vision will come into focus at the 7th UNWTO Global Summit on Urban Tourism (16-19 September 2018) in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
