Routes, a part of UBM live and an airport networking event organizer, partnered with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to advance the understanding of air connectivity and travel facilitation concerns.
UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
“We are excited to be partnering with UNWTO. Routes has been supporting the world’s airline, airport and tourism authorities for the past 20 years in order to facilitate air service development and are well equipped to add significant value to UNWTO’s work in this area,” said Katie Bland, director for Routes, UBM Live.
“With this agreement, we have had the opportunity to empower our relationship with UNWTO, of which we are an affiliate member, whose vision and global coverage closely matches with our own. We are both committed to promoting sustainable aviation and tourism growth in Africa and around the world,” she added.
Routes and UNWTO will collaborate on the development of programs beginning with Routes Africa 2014, which takes place June 22-24. This event will address the key factors of infrastructure, air connectivity and visa facilitation within Africa, a priority for both Routes and UNWTO.
“Considering that over 50 percent of the world’s international tourists arrive to their destinations by plane, promoting air connectivity and a closer alignment between tourism and aviation policies is one of UNWTO main priorities,” said Taleb Rifai, secretary-general, UNWTO.
In addition, Routes Africa will identify the key challenges and explore practical ways to unlock the benefits and opportunities of sustainable aviation growth. The program will bring together a wide range of aviation based companies that wish to conduct business to, from and within the African region.
