The tourism trade event welcomed the Ministers of Tourism of Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala and Honduras, alongside high/level representatives of the governments of both Brazil and Jordan. Joining them were private sector leaders, brought together by the Adventure Travel and Trade Association (ATTA).

The summit culminated in all parties signing the Declaration: “Transformation Towards the Future of Tourism”, a clear commitment to act on UNWTO’s call for the public and private sectors to work together and seize the opportunity to place sustainability and inclusivity at the heart of the sector’s restart and recovery. The Declaration states: “the future of tourism is collaborative, bringing together the ancestral wisdom of local and indigenous communities with pioneering scientific and economic knowledge in service to long-term stewardship of integrated ecosystems”.

At the same time, the Declaration also makes clear the signatories’ commitment to advance “transformation towards a carbon-neutral and more socially resilient tourism economy”. In November, Panama was one of the founding signatories of the Glasgow Declaration of Climate Action in Tourism, launched by UNWTO at the COP26 summit.