The 100th Session of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation
The 100th Session of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Executive Council
On Wednesday May 27th Rovinj will host the 100th session of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Executive Council. The session will be attended by more than 200 participants, i.e. about 40 delegations from all over the world, including Secretary-General of UNWTO Taleb Rifai, the Vice President of Iran and representative of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) Masoud Soltanifar, eight tourism ministers (Argentina, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Jamaica, South Africa, Gambia and Zimbabwe), and a large number of deputy ministers, state secretaries and other tourism professionals and experts. On Monday, May 25th, Secretary-General Rifai gave a lecture to Rovinj high school students at the crowded Multimedia Centre about the current trends in the global tourism industry.
The Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has chosen Rovinj as the host town at the session held in the Spanish town Santiago de Compostela in June 2014 with Egypt and Jamaica as the other two candidates. Croatia has been a member of UNWTO since 1993 and was elected to the Executive Council in 2013. Currently Croatia and Mozambique hold the first and second vice-chair.
The agenda of the Rovinj session will include key priorities of the organisation in the following two years and the future development and growth of the tourism sector in these challenging times. In addition to the official programme and the meetings of the Executive Council on Thursday, May 28th, and Friday, May 29th, the participants will enjoy a rich programme including presentations of the tourism offer in Istria and other Croatian regions, with a special focus on gastronomy and oenology, areas of special landscape value, culture and historic heritage. A guided tour of Rovinj will be held on Wednesday, May 27th, during which on several locations events with live music and tasting of local produce will be held. In Marshal Tito’s Square guests will be welcomed by brass music and the Rovinj Majorettes and next to the stand of the House of Batana Association guests will be able to enjoy fish delicacies and live performances by the Batana folk band. Opposite the House of Batana Museum a boat-building show will be organised in the open, with KUD Marco Garbin performing Rovinj’s traditional songs called bitinada and the Šćike performing traditional Istrian music. In the vicinity of St. Euphemia Rovinj winemakers will present their wines accompanied by live musical performances by Davor and Gracijan Terzić. The tour of the town will include a walk along Grisia – the main street and an outdoor art gallery, and a visit to the Rovinj Heritage Museum where the Magnolija duo and the Plesarin Folklore Society will make sure everyone has a great time.
