“UNWTO Middle East Members Meet In Riyadh”

This article I read recently explained that the 13 Members of the UNWTO Regional Commission for the Middle East met in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

This was right after the day the United Nations has the specialized agency for tourism celebrated the official opening of its first Regional Office in the city. 

High on their agenda was adopting a coordinated approach to developing unified protocols for safe and responsible travel throughout the region.

I read that these members have agreed to work together on core initiatives intended to harmonize travel protocols and reinvigorate regional travel through:

1. Developing a common framework to reopen international borders;

2. Creating approved Public Health Corridors between destinations to promote specific tourism experiences and relaunch hotspot tourism destinations;

3. Implementing a common digital health solution to facilitate travelers’ experience through interoperability and blockchain as technologies to help develop common standards; and

4. Working to implement the IATA-UNWTO destination tracker, a monitoring system to track health data, regulations, and movements across borders and to protect the health and welfare of the region’s 450 million inhabitants.

In my opinion, this enables a new chapter in regional tourism across the Middle East and sets a standard of collaboration for other regions, which is healthy for also peace and stability within the Middle East.