Photo: UNWTO.

By Frank Martin

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the European Union of Football Associations (UEFA) took a very decisive step to increase the role of sports in tourism not only in the European region but worldwide.

The two entities agreement is designed to jointly promote benefits of global sport and tourism sports in order to promote for development and opportunities specially for young people.

The crucial importance of union of tourism and football is to promote restoration on a planet very hard hit by coronavirus in all branches.

In a world that is still struggling to overcome the terrible Covid-19 pandemic, the agreement between the UNWTO and UEFA is a powerful additional engine for the essential reopening.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili and UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin “recognized the shared values ​​of tourism and football, two outstanding sectors led by people with the ability to promote understanding, friendship and solidarity and even a social and economic change” was underlined in a joint statement.

“Tourism and football are natural partners, bringing joy to many millions with benefits that go far beyond holidays or individual matches. Working together, UNWTO and UEFA will harness our potential to celebrate our shared humanity, foster friendship across borders and create experiences and opportunities for people everywhere,” Pololikashvili said.

Čeferin stressed that “sports tourism is one of the fastest growing tourism segments. And tourism and football, as the most popular sport in the world, complement each other in a unique way.”

He added that “football offers teams and fans the opportunity to travel the world, discover new destinations and cultures. I can’t think of a better way to learn more about each other, grow together instead of apart.”

For Caribbean tour operators consulted by the TTC, the treaty is crucial and is welcome in the region.

“The joint strength of tourism and sports will increase the prospects for tourism in terms of the expansion of employment and educational opportunities that this can generate,” one of them commented.

Both of these human activities are powerful in terms to attract crowds, a unique quality to solve economic collapse caused by the pandemic.
Studies around the world warned that sports tourism has been and is still very damaged, something that was notable in terms of the drop in attendance at the Tokyo Olympics.

An international calculation indicates that sports tourism lost 80% of its business in 2020 due to the pandemic. The proportion for 2021 was similar or but in some parts of the world.