My visit to Croatia was a very productive and fruitful one. It is always a pleasure to meet my good friend Tonci Glavina, the minister of Tourism and Sports off Croatia, and to follow up on Croatia initiatives and progress towards a more sustainable touristic development. We discussed their groundbreaking and thought-provoking initiatives among which is the creation of a world class tourism sustainability center supported byUN Tourism. We discussed European union’s efforts to create for the first time a tourism strategy under the leadership of the commissioner of transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas, and welcomed the changes in the structure of the new commission. We also discussed the subject of sports and its linkage to the touristic development and agreed that UN Tourism initiatives can play an important role in this regard. Greece’s special standing with international Olympic committee could be a catalyst in this direction. We agreed that the statement of policy and management intent as presented during my Candidacy and corresponding campaign for the position of SG of UN tourism contains exactly the right mix of reforms and initiatives that can transform both the role of UN tourism and coordinate the efforts of the wider touristic community pursuing the goal of sustainable development. We concluded with a promise to meet again as soon as possible and coordinate actions and efforts in order to be more successful.
