Ministry of Tourism has announced the election of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as Chairman of the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), during the 117th session meeting held in Marrakesh, Morocco, from November 23-25, 2022, becoming the first Gulf country to hold this position. On this occasion, Minister of Tourism and UNWTO Chairman Ahmed Al-Khateeb said: "The Kingdom is honored to be elected as the Chairman of the UNWTO Executive Council, and we believe in the importance of the organization's pioneering role and look forward to cooperating with all countries to support and develop the global tourism sector". He added: "The UNWTO focuses on promoting the tourism sector due to its important role in stimulating economic development, and the Kingdom, in turn, fully supports these efforts, as it pledged to allocate $800 billion in government investments in the Saudi tourism sector by 2030. The development we seek to be achieved at the national and international level is sustainable, comprehensive, and flexible development to meet the changing needs of companies and societies in general". Saudi Arabia, in its capacity as chair of the council, will focus on setting the agenda for the meetings and discussing the most important issues related to the tourism sector. The Kingdom will facilitate meetings and manage dialogues to reach implementable results. The presidency of the Executive Council of UNWTO extends for one year, meaning that Saudi Arabia will occupy this position during the entire year 2023. The organization undertakes the task of developing tourism as a means of consolidating international peace and understanding and promoting economic development and international trade. The Executive Council is the second highest decision-making body in the organization after the General Assembly.
