MoHT Union Minister attends 11th World Congress on Snow and Mountain Tourism

union Minister for Hotels and Tourism Dr Htay Aung attended the 11th World Congress on Snow and Mountain Tourism organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) virtually at Nilar Hall of his Ministry yesterday.
The two-day event will be held from 23 to 24 March to discuss issues of sustainability and digital transformation, rules and regulations to be followed by tourists in resuming tourism activities at the congress, conservation of tourism resources, and health tips and tourism innovation.
General Secretary of the World Tourism Federation Mr Zurab Pololikashvili, Andorra’s Minister of Tourism and Communications, Minister of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan, Heads of Ministries of Tourism, Economy and Technology from Spain, Greece, Slovenia, France, Norway, and Italy, officials and responsible persons from private tourism and technology organizations attended the virtual congress.
At the conference, the Mayor of Canilla from Andorra, the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization and Andorra’s Minister of Tourism and Communications gave opening remarks.
According to the agenda of the first day of the congress, Andorra’s Minister of Tourism and Communications, Minister of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan, State of Secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Technology of Slovenia, State Secretary of the Spanish Ministry of Tourism, and Greek Deputy Tourism Minister discussed mountainous tourism restoration and prospects.
Post-COVID-19 tourism strategies for the long-term development of mountainous destinations, challenges of each country in terms of prospects for tourism in the future including tourist destination, issues of The International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development 2022, requirements for sustainable development of mountain tourism attractions and activities, implementing the training programmes to provide quality services, equipment needed for snow and mountain trekking, infrastructure and investment issues, and issues related to the adaptation of snow and mountain tourism to natural resources, ways to Build a Ski Resort, requirements to work with relevant tour management agencies to improve service quality issues at ski resorts, climate change and its impact on the environment and benefits of tourism to local communities were discussed during the congress.
Next, Andorra Telecom’s Statistics and Technology Manager discussed data obtained from mobile data and studies and provided information on the use of Big Data in tourism sustainability activities in mountainous areas.
Officials from Australian, Spanish, Andorra and Norway Technology companies also discussed the transformation of digital technology and the widespread use of technology in the tourism sector.
Head of Tourism Marketing and Competition Department of World Tourism Organization, and the Project Coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) discussed the review of the World Tourism Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Sustainable Mountain Tourism Report.
Food and tourism officials from Italy, Andorra, Greece and France discussed food tourism and food security issues on the second day of the conference.
In turn, French and Andorra officials shared innovative experiences in tourism and topics such as job creation and capacity building activities and Britain’s Management and development of responsible tourism destinations in Andorra and France were also discussed.
After that, the Mayor of Canilla, the Mayor of Ankang, the European Union (EU) Regional Director for Europe and the Andorra Tourism and Communications Minister made concluding remarks at the closing ceremony of the conference. — MNA