{"id":1567,"date":"2020-09-28T10:23:33","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T10:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelcommunication.net\/?p=26384"},"modified":"2020-11-04T03:30:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T03:30:33","slug":"unwto-and-google-host-first-tourism-acceleration-program-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/global-travel-news\/unwto-and-google-host-first-tourism-acceleration-program-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"UNWTO and Google Host First Tourism Acceleration Program in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\"UNWTO<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n

Madrid, Spain, September 28, 2020 \/ TRAVELINDEX \/ Advancing digitalization will be key to adapting to the new tourism environment. The Covid-19 crisis has disproportionately affected tourism, a sector that accounts for millions of jobs around the globe. While no one can say with certainty when tourism will recover, people are starting to dream again of getaways whether closer to home or to remote destinations. As more and more people go online to search where and when they can travel, accelerating the digitalization of the tourism sector will be key to adapting to the new tourism reality.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Updates and all the latest UNWTO News and Announcements<\/a><\/p>\n

That is why the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Google have partnered for an online Acceleration Program for UNWTO Member States\u2019 tourism ministers, top travel associations and tourism boards to further develop innovation and digital transformation skills.<\/p>\n

Today, ahead of World Tourism Day, we hosted our first UNWTO & Google Tourism Acceleration Program<\/strong> focused on insights from South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria<\/a>. Tourism is the backbone of many economies around the world. As data from UNWTO shows, tourism represents 9% of global trade for Africa and 1 in 10 jobs directly and indirectly. Moreover, the sector drives inclusive growth, as women make 54% of the workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cUNWTO is committed to helping Africa grow back stronger<\/a>,\u201d said Natalia Bayona, UNWTO Director of Innovation, Digital Transformation and Investments. \u201cWith the right policies, training and management in place, innovation and technology have the potential to foster new and better jobs and business opportunities for tourism in Africa while improving the overall wellbeing and prosperity of the region\u201d.<\/p>\n

Market intelligence and insights are more important than ever to understand consumers and drive recovery. In line with the ongoing UNWTO training programme on data and intelligence for Africa, this partnership with Google allows UNWTO to strengthen Africa\u2019s data and digital skills\u201d said Sandra Carvao, UNWTO Chief of Market Intelligence and Competitiveness<\/p>\n

Africa is home to 30% of the world\u2019s population, adding every year hundreds of millions of new online users. Google is a highly trusted partner in Africa to find relevant and reliable information, and Search is one of the places they go when researching and booking travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to help the tourism sector rise up from this unprecedented crisis and emerge stronger. Our travel data insights and tools<\/strong> can help tourism authorities identify and understand the barriers and drivers to visit travel destinations for better tourism planning.\u201d said Doron Avni, Google\u2019s Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Emerging Market.<\/p>\n

The session included the presentation of latest UNWTO impacts assessment<\/strong> and as well as the new UNWTO Tourism Recovery Tracker<\/strong>, the most comprehensive insights dashboard on tourism indicators.<\/p>\n

Kenya<\/strong>
\nThe top three questions users asked Google globally related to Kenya<\/a> and travel conducted in July comprised \u201cWhen can we travel again,\u201d \u201cwhen will international travel resume,\u201d and \u201cwhen will it be safe to travel again.\u201d while top questions in August were related to where and when we can travel \u201cright now\u201d. In fact, 45% of the top 100 questions related to travel focused on the impact of COVID-19, the need to travel as soon as possible and travel safety.<\/p>\n

Nigeria<\/strong>
\nSince Nigeria announced the intention to reopen its borders to international travel on August 29th, search interest for travel has grown. This slowdown presents a unique opportunity to rethink tourism, innovate and further develop the digital transformation of the sector so it can build the foundations for future sustainable growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madrid, Spain, September 28, 2020 \/ TRAVELINDEX \/ Advancing digitalization will be key to adapting to the new tourism environment. The Covid-19 crisis has disproportionately affected tourism, a sector that accounts for millions of jobs around the globe. While no one can say with certainty when tourism will recover, people are starting to dream again …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-travel-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}