MADRID, 21 January 2021: The UN World Tourism Organization’s Executive Council endorsed the selection of incumbent Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili for a second four-year term, 2022 to 2025.
The Executive Council’s selection will be carried forward to the 24th Session of the UNWTO General Assembly, due to be held in Marrakesh, Morocco, towards the end of the year.
Members nominated him to continue leading the United Nations specialized agency at the end of the 113th session of the Executive Council, hosted as a hybrid event in the Spanish capital.
They voted in person in a secret ballot to choose the UNWTO leader for the next four-year term due to start in 2022.
Incumbent Pololikashvili won 76% of the votes in a process where the Kingdom of Bahrain also put forward a candidate Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa.
Pololikashvili based his campaign for re-election on the progressive institutional and policy reforms undertaken during his first term, and on his clear leadership of global tourism throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Secretary-General said UNWTO had laid the foundations for seizing the momentum of the rollout of vaccines to ensure a harmonized approach to the return of safe and seamless international travel.
