Through My Eyes: UN Tourism Executive Director on borders and wars

Natalia Bayona is a pioneer and something of a prodigy in the tourism world. At 27 she was already running the national tourism authority of her home country Colombia. Now she's the head of tourism for the United Nations, the first woman under 40 to hold that role.

To find out her insights into the biggest tourist market in the world as the People's Republic of China marks 75 years, our correspondent Ken Browne sat down with her at the UN World Tourism Organisation offices in Madrid.

You know a thing or two about tourism, so is it back and beating pre-pandemic levels as numbers suggest?

You're absolutely right. Our projections say that maybe we will grow two or three points more if we compare 2019 and nowadays. Spain is on course for a record year and so is China. Today, more than ever, we need to give a stronger place to tourism to really preserve the values of humanity.

What are the challenges that you see at the moment?

So for me, the first priority of U.N. tourism and my personal passion is by far education. Without education, you cannot sustain an economic sector. So that's the first one. Second one, of course, has to be everything related to consciousness and over-tourism.

On education, we have a package of scholarships with the top universities from all around the world, so to give access to everyone. Then in terms of investment, for example, we work with our specialists and the economists in the ministries of tourism of countries to create investment guidelines and to explain to the private sector why this country should receive international investments. In specific projects we bring together the private and the public sector to open new borders, to open new business opportunities. So at the end, to make tourism grow in a sustainable way.

Tourism is responsible for eight percent of the world's carbon emissions. What is the United Nations doing to try and change that?

Here in U.N. tourism, we have our strong focus on green investments. So today, more than ever, when you compare the overall sectors of the economy, by far tourism is the number one service growing when it comes to foreign direct investment flows. What we need to do is to promote more responsible investment, to have hotels with renewable energies, using the community art to create all the designs inside any infrastructure, to create smart airports with new technologies that can of course reduce their emissions and that can be more responsible at the end of the day.

Since last year, World Tourism Day was about green investments and we have created a calendar of activities. Reports and devices that can help and can give a voice to this emerging concept that is green investments so that we can preserve the three kinds of sustainability: social sustainability to bring benefits to the community in terms of tourism, environmental sustainability, because of course we need the power of human resources and natural resources to to create tourism as a sector. And last but not least, of course, is economic sustainability, because tourism is an economic sector. So we need to ensure that keeps this growth in a proper way.

How would you describe your relationship with China?

I love China. I love it in a personal way. I'm a very disciplined person and I love their discipline. I am honored to be the first international honorary professor in the Beijing International Studies University. 

So I love tea, I'm a tea lover. I'm Colombian, but I have to say that I love it more than coffee. So that's one of my passions. I like red tea, but of course white tea as well, so that calms me a little bit when I am stressed! The food too, the country's gastronomy is one of the best for me. I have to be looking around here in Spain about the best Chinese restaurants to enjoy them and to always be connected with one powerful country full of culture and full of unique people.

If you had to choose one experience as sort of a cultural experience in China, what would that be?

The most famous one of course is the Great Wall. Now that's an example of discipline. This year I went to the tea region, that's absolutely incredible because I had the opportunity to be in different tea shops and I had the opportunity to really have the experience of having tea with Chinese people and to get all the local touch on how they do tea - the history behind why they always have a big rectangular table and they can drink tea the whole night talking and gathering between families. So that's really a wow factor, that's really unique. I haven't seen that in my life and it's healthy and it's a different way to do networking at the end of the day so I loved it.

October marks 75 years of the People's Republic of China. How would you put the transformation over that time into context from the perspective of tourism?

It's absolutely incredible. If you can talk about the history of China from 75 years from now. I have to say that when you go there, you always see something new. It's incredible, but it's a country that is always innovating. You have that mixture between modernity and of course, tradition.

How important is China to global tourism?

First of all, I already mentioned it's a top investor in the world when it comes to infrastructure of hotels and for structures and business development. Second of all, when it comes to tourists, they are the ones that spend the most. So $196 billion expenditure - only from tourists from China all around the globe. So it helps us as well to promote and to increase GDP among all the countries.

On the other side, there are emerging destinations where you see Chinese investments, airports, infrastructures in Africa, in Latin America. So at the end of the day, little by little, it's expanding its way. And of course, in Europe, you have seen a lot of Chinese new investments when it comes to infrastructure here in Spain and in other countries where tourism is really mature. So at the end of the day, I can say the first one is, by far, hotel infrastructure, but when it comes to emerging destinations, you can see that roads and transport have been crucial to help the development of those countries.

So today, more than ever, we have a strong agenda to connect governments with China, governments with the private sector and private sector from abroad.

Now people from many European and Asian countries have visa-free travel to China, that will will clearly promote tourism, right?

That's a very smart decision that the Chinese government did. Basically, what they want is to promote countries from Europe and Malaysia to have visa-free facilitation for some weeks. That's good because at the end of the day, the less borders that you create for tourists, the easier it is to go.

Give us an idea of the importance of tourism in terms of understanding each other and people to people exchanges.

Tourism doesn't understand about borders. Tourism doesn't understand about wars, about tensions. Tourism is about mutual understanding. Tourism is about openness. It's about bringing new cultures together. That's the magic of tourism.

So to bring this message to the world and to see how people from rural areas, from post-conflict areas that today are in peace, always look at tourism as part of the benefit, as part of their growth, as part of the way they can evolve as human beings. So today, more than ever, we need to give a stronger place to tourism to really preserve the values of humanity that are the values that make this world stronger and that will keep us together. 

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