Events, Organisations & Operators,

The first Global Youth Tourism Summit concluded by showcasing the power of tourism for youth empowerment, international solidarity and peace.
Drawing the landmark event to a close, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili joined UNWTO Director for Europe, Alessandra Priante, in thanking the 130 young delegates for their active participation. Valeria Mazza, UNWTO Ambassador for Responsible Tourism and the ‘godmother of GYTS’, also urged the participants, who came from 59 countries, to “follow their own paths in life” and to serve as advocates for tourism themselves as they return to their home communities.
Following this the Ukrainian National Folk Ensemble “Veryovka”, directed by maestro Carlo Ponti Jr, performed for an audience of high-level guests including the Ambassador of Ukraine to Italy, Mr Yaroslav Melnyk, the UN’s envoy for youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake, UNWTO Ambassador for Sustainable Tourism, Didier Drogba, Minister of Tourism of the Maldives, Abdulla Mausoom, and founder of the Small World Foundation, Ms Salam Hamzeh Ghaith. 
Finally, in an act of solidarity, the night ended with presentations to organisations which are performing goodwill and charitable work, namely the Los Angeles Virtuosi, the MSC Foundation, Didier Drogba Foundation, Pokrova Association, and finally the UEFA Foundation.

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Tourism has the potential to lead the shift towards a circular and regenerative blue economy, the UN Ocean Conference has been told.
UNWTO centred the discussions on tourism in a special Tourism Ocean Action side event of the Conference, held this week in Lisbon. Organised alongside the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme and in collaboration with the governments of Portugal and Kenya, the discussions highlighted the strong incentive that tourism provides for ocean conservation.
Tourism’s role in coastal conservationAddressing the Conference, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Our wellbeing depends on a healthy ocean. As part of its responsible recovery, tourism needs to play a more active role in protecting coastal and marine environments. That’s why we are taking steps to shift to a more circular and resilient tourism model, and the benefits of this will be felt far beyond the sector itself.”
High level representatives from Portugal, Kenya and the Republic of Fiji including the Minister of Economy and Maritime Affairs of Portugal, H.E. Antonio Costa Silva; the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife of Kenya, Hon. Najib Balala; the Minister of Commerce, Trade Tourism and Transport of the Republic of Fiji, Hon. Faiyaz Koya; presented frontrunning tourism policies and stressed the importance of finding a balance between the environment and the economy and jobs creation through tourism. The UN Resident Coordinator for the Maldives and UNEP’s Ecosystem Division Director also took part in the side event. 
“As we implement the sustainable tourism action plan 2020 – 2023, we are promoting changes in consumption behaviour, looking at the circularity of materials and at the efficiency in the use of resources, while supporting tourism companies adopt ESG and connecting marine protected areas with tourism” said H.E. Antonio Costa Silva, Minister of Economy and Maritime Affairs of Portugal.ADVERTISEMENTKey ocean and climate initiatives outlinedIn particular, the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, including its five pathways “measure, decarbonise, regenerate, collaborate and finance” and the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, which supports the sector’s readiness to the upcoming international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution, were put forward as effective tools to accelerate tourism ocean action and new signatories to the latter were announced.
“The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative supports readiness of the tourism sector to meet upcoming regulations, especially in light of the upcoming international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution. To meet the real need for strong mobilisation, the largest businesses need to also be engaged,” noted UNEP, Susan Gardner, Director, Ecosystems Division
Turismo de Portugal recalled having signed the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism alongside the European Travel Commission. The Travel Foundation reminded of the need to build the knowledge of tourism stakeholders, especially small and medium enterprises. The need to trigger investments at scale in the protection and regeneration of ecosystems was highlighted by private sector representatives from Iberostar Group, which presented its coastal health strategy, and NOAH Regen, which presented an innovative finance model to protect and regenerate blue carbon ecosystems, building on the side-event on “Blue Carbon Ecosystems for Regenerative Tourism” organised on the previous day in collaboration with Forum Oceano.

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Award-winning association UKinbound has welcomed seasoned events and project management professional Palmira Errico to its team as events manager.
Joining from destination management company Premium Incoming UK and Ireland, where she held the role of project manager, Errico brings with her over nine years of client and management experience.
Her previous roles include stints at both Miki Travel Ltd and EMS Destination Management. Errico also holds a degree in Cultural and Linguistical Mediation from the University of L’Orientale in Naples.
Errico has been tasked with driving forward the association’s events calendar, alongside head of events Saara Vuorela-Valladares, which will include its 200 plus delegate Annual Convention in Aberdeen and the UK stand at World Travel Market.
Additionally, she will be coordinating the association’s regular networking evenings, familiarisation trips, discover workshops, webinars, general meetings, and more.ADVERTISEMENTCommenting on her appointment Errico said “I am very pleased to have joined the UKinbound events team. I am really looking forward to working with the head of events Saara, and the rest of the team, to create many memorable moments for all our members, who I’m excited to meet at our future events.”

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Resorts World Las Vegas has unveiled its Las Vegas Convention Center Loop passenger station, providing direct underground access to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) in an enjoyable, efficient and environmentally friendly way in minutes in all-electric Teslas. Resorts World Las Vegas is now also poised to connect to the expanded Vegas Loop system when development efforts move forward on the proposed innovative transportation system.
The LVCC Loop is an innovative, all-electric, zero-emissions, underground public transportation system in which passengers are transported directly to their destination with no stops along the way. The Resorts World Las Vegas passenger station will be the first of over 55 stops anticipated to form the Vegas Loop, which aims to eventually transport thousands of passengers per hour throughout the resort corridor.
The Vegas Loop will be constructed in phases that include the Resorts World Las Vegas passenger station, the LVCC Loop and future service extensions along the Strip and Downtown Las Vegas.
“Today marks a monumental moment not only for our resort, but for Las Vegas,” said Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas. “Our passenger station will make a visit to our resort from the Las Vegas Convention Center easier than ever, and eventually connect us to key destinations throughout the city. Resorts World Las Vegas strives to transform the way people experience Las Vegas, and this offering does just that. We are proud to partner with The Boring Company on what we believe to be the future of travel.”
“In addition to offering our convention customers direct access to Resorts World’s world-class hospitality and entertainment, this milestone is an important step in the development of a game-changing transportation solution in Las Vegas,” said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA.) Resorts World Las Vegas provides some of the city’s most advanced technology features, such as cashless gaming, digital check-in, breathtaking LED technology and more. The partnership with The Boring Company further illustrates the resort’s intention to integrate innovative technology throughout the entire guest experience.ADVERTISEMENTHours of operation for the Resorts World Las Vegas Passenger Station will vary based upon the LVCC events and convention calendar.

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The IMEX Group has won Best International Show – Americas at the recent AEO Excellence Awards. The awards, held last Friday (24 June), honoured IMEX America 2021 which took place in November last year at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas.
Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, explains why the show was a milestone moment for the team and the wider industry: “IMEX America 2021 was our first show in over two years and enabled us to reunite with our events industry family – we’re delighted to commemorate it with this award.
“IMEX America was the first international event on American soil after the US government lifted travel restrictions – in fact, the show took place on the day the borders opened.
“Organising a show under these challenging conditions took a Herculean effort from the team, but the appreciation and elation of the global industry who joined us onsite made it all worthwhile.”
Registration has formally opened for IMEX America, October 11 – 13 2022 at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas.ADVERTISEMENT

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Corporate event planners and meeting directors are being invited to continue the strategic conversation that was started at IMEX in Frankfurt’s recent in-person Exclusively Corporate.
A free, virtual event on June 28 will be headed by Google Events Strategic Solutions Lead, Megan Henshall, who will pose the same question asked by Google’s events team: ‘How might we create spaces for exploration and innovation to occur?’
Henshall will explain how the Google Experience Institute (Xi) defines and applies exploration to intentionally unlock and engender innovation across the business’s events portfolio. She’ll be sharing dozens of insights gleaned during her career at Google, whose mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
This interactive, virtual Exclusively Corporate will also focus on how to build diverse communities while engaging them with empathy and curiosity. Henshall will discuss the power of passion and how it actively plays into community growth and connection.
The 3-hour session will also reveal how work at Xi ignited a new project on neuro-inclusion in events. The day will conclude with an open call for participants to collaborate and learn how to elevate the power and impact of events by designing them around the varied and diverse neurological needs of attendees. Neuro-inclusion recognises that people experience the world in different ways and that no single way is either right or wrong, just different.ADVERTISEMENTRegistration is free and NOT dependent on having attended IMEX’s Exclusively Corporate in May. All inhouse, corporate meetings and events planners are welcome, and the session will be recorded.

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Booking.com is kicking off the summer with a spectacular Pitch View Penthouse at Wembley Stadium, for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022™ Final. The football-themed penthouse will be bookable as a one-night-only sleepover experience, for two lucky guests, at the final on Sunday 31 July, plus best view seats to the game.
Booking.com is the Official Accommodation Booking Partner of UEFA Women’s EURO 2022™, which takes place across nine cities in England, from 6 –31 July, with the final being played at Wembley Stadium in London.
With just nine days until the start of the tournament, stunning computer-generated 3D images of how the Pitch View Penthouse will look, have been released, to give both seasoned fans and those considering their first foray to a football stadium, a taste of this atmospheric apartment.
The Penthouse can now be viewed online, and will become bookable, at a reservation fee of just £20.22, on 6 July at 10am BST, the same day as England kick off against Austria in the opening match of UEFA Women’s EURO 2022™.
On entering Booking.com’s Pitch View Penthouse, guests will be greeted by the sound of cheering crowds, emulating the adulation players hear when they are walking out onto the pitch. The space then opens up into an eye-catching pitch-themed bedroom and living area.  In addition, the amazing penthouse has its own private balcony, with the best seats in the house, giving guests a stunning vantage point to watch the final.  ADVERTISEMENTThe ultimate overnight football experience will kick off with a chauffeured drive to Wembley Stadium, where they will be met and taken on a behind-the-scenes stadium tour. Booking.com ambassador and former England player Karen Carney, will also be on hand to welcome the guests to the exclusive Booking.com Pitch View Penthouse.
The lucky guests will enjoy VIP hospitality at the Pitch View Penthouse, and all the live match action from their private terrace; before retreating for the night, surrounded by unhindered views of the pitch, in this once in a lifetime experience. The morning after the final, guests will be invited to an exclusive pitch-side breakfast.
Arjan Dijk, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Booking.com, said: “We’re so excited to be listing this incredible ultimate football stay experience for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022™ Final. Creating these memorable moments and first time experiences is so important to us at Booking.com. The Pitch View Penthouse at Wembley will be the perfect place for guests to enjoy a special night, at what is set to be a fantastic football tournament.  We believe travel enriches people’s lives, especially live sport events which inspire more people to experience the world around them, and I’m sure UEFA Women’s EURO 2022™ will provide many unforgettable moments for football fans in Europe and around the world.”
Booking.com’s partnership with the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022™ is part of the travel brand’s global strategic partnership with the Union of European Football Associations, in which Booking.com is the exclusive accommodation booking partner for all UEFA National Team Football events.

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The World Tourism Organization presented its initiatives in audio-visual tourism and its vision regarding the future of the sector. With the support of the World Tourism Organization, the 6th edition of Conecta Fiction & Entertainment was inaugurated, an event on the co-production and networking of series and entertainment content for television organised by the Government of the Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha, Turismo Castilla-La Mancha and the Castilla-La Mancha Film Commission.
The main objective of Conecta Fiction & Entertainment is to promote investment and high-quality audio-visual productions through the exchange of good practices, innovative projects and training workshops with experts in the sector.
During the event’s opening session, Ion Vilcu, Executive Director of the UNWTO Affiliate Members, said: “Tourism and the audio-visual industry have a natural link. Travellers connect directly with the sites where films and television series are made, which gives these places added value to support the sustainable development of the tourism sector.”
For her part, the Minister of Economy, Business and Employment of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, Patricia Franco Jiménez, highlighted the importance of strengthening the positioning of the region as an attractive destination for international production companies. In addition, she underlined that “the audio-visual sector helps us strengthen the tourism indicators we have in the region, such as the number of employees, which has reached the highest figures recorded, only behind 2019”.
Among the participants in this event of international significance in the audio-visual industry are companies such as Movistar, HBO Spain, RTVE, Netflix, Rai and Mediaset Spain.ADVERTISEMENT

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