Zurab Pololikashvili re-elected as Secretary-General of UNWTO

By Khatia Bzhalava

Thursday, January 21

“The UNWTO Executive Council has voted for Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili to lead UNWTO for four more years, with members backing his vision for the ‘restart and rethink’ of tourism,” reads the statement published on Facebook by UNWTO.

During the meeting of the Executive Board of the UNWTO, the Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez, as well as the candidate for the UN Secretary-General for World Tourism Zurab Pololikashvili addressed the attendants of the session.

Georgia’s Zurab Pololikashvili has been re-elected Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) for the second term (2022-2025). The following decision was made during the 113th session of the UNWTO Executive Council, held in Madrid. Zurab Pololikashvili was elected for the first term in May 2017, which was the first time, Georgian candidate has been selected as the head of the international organization.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the newly-elected Secretary-General will be approved at the General Assembly session in the second half of 2021.

The Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez, as well as the candidate for the UN Secretary-General for the UNWTO Zurab Pololikashvili, addressed the participants of the session. According to the UNWTO, public and private sector leaders gathered at the first Global Tourism Crisis Committee in 2021 to advance concrete plans to ensure the safe restart of tourism.

Pololikashvili has published a statement on Twitter, where he thanks the members of the Executive Board of the World Tourism Organization for their support and trust.

“Together we highlighted our sector’s relevance during the most challenging times and together, with the strongest determination, we will get tourism back on track for all!” stated Pololikashvili.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, David Zalkaliani, the Chairman of the Committee on Sectoral Economics of the Parliament of Georgia, David Songhulashvili, and members of the Georgian delegation attended the meeting held in Madrid. The FM minister of Georgia congratulated Pololikashvili on his election as UNWTO Secretary-General for the second term. Zalkaliani expressed certainty that Pololikashvili’s hard work would contribute to the development of the tourism sector and empowering of people employed in this field.

Before becoming the Secretary-General of the UNWTO, Pololikashvili had served as Resident Representative of Georgia at UNWTO and Ambassador of Georgia to Spain.