Tourism ministers, the Spanish authorities and private sector representatives during FITUR attended a ministerial round table on tourism development in the MENA region focusing on the region’s current trends and short term prospects and policies and strategies for consolidating recovery and stepping up tourism’s contribution to inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic development.

Opening the event, Zurab Pololikashvili, secretary general, UNWTO, commented, “[…] There are many reasons for optimism and I come into this meeting full of confidence for the region’s future. UNWTO forecasts point to MENA receiving 195 million international tourists by 2030.”