Mariano Rajoy meets with Secretary General of World Tourism Organization

President's News - 2017.5.9

The President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, held a meeting at Moncloa Palace with the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (WTO), Taleb Rifai, within the framework of the excellent relations the government has with this United Nations agency, which has its headquarters in Madrid.

1.Images of the meeting between the President of the Government and the Secretary General of WTO | Pool Moncloa/ Marcos Martín - 2017.5.9

00:23 1.Images of the meeting between the President of the Government and the Secretary General...

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The meeting coincides with the upcoming meeting of the Executive Council of the organisation, to be held on 11 and 12 May in Madrid. The meeting will be used to elect the next Secretary General of the WTO, which will subsequently be submitted for confirmation at the General Assembly of the UNWTO, to be held in September in Chengdu (China).

Tuesday's meeting was used to address the importance of tourism for the global economy, and particularly for Spain, where it represents 11.1% of domestic GDP. This sector is also very important for growth and job creation in our country.

Spain continues to be the most competitive tourist destination in the world, according to the World Economic Forum, which clearly shows that it is a leading global tourism power, and why the government decisively supports this sector. In 2016, Spain went through the historic barrier of 75 million inbound tourists, and it would seem that a new record will be set in 2017, with the arrival of 13 million tourists in just the first three months of the year.