China vital to tourism, says UN head

CGTN Europe

Natalia Bayona is head of tourism for the United Nations, the first woman under 40 to hold that role. She says China has a crucial role in growing tourism in the post- pandemic world.   #throughmyeyes

Transcript

00:00Natalia Bayona knows a thing or two about tourism.

00:05So is it back and beating pre-pandemic levels as numbers suggest?

00:09You're absolutely right.

00:12Our projections say that maybe we will grow two or three points more if we compare 2019 and nowadays.

00:23Tourism is responsible for 8% of the world's carbon.

00:26What is the United Nations doing to try and, you know, bring that industry to a more, make it greener?

00:34Here in UN tourism we have a strong focus on green investments.

00:38To have hotels with renewable energies, using the community art to create all the designs inside any infrastructure,

00:51to create smart airports with new technologies that can, of course, reduce the emissions and that can be more responsible at the end of the day.

01:01How would you describe your relationship with China?

01:04I love China. I love, in a personal way, I'm a very disciplined person.

01:10I am honoured to be the first international honorary professor in the Beijing International Studies University.

01:19So I love tea. I'm a tea lover. I'm Colombian, but I have to say that I love tea more than coffee.

01:25So that's one of my passions.

01:28Which one's your favourite tea? Mine is oolong.

01:31Mine, I could say red tea, but of course, white tea as well.

01:36So that calms me a little bit when I am stressed.

01:41In October marks the 75 years of the PRC, the People's Republic of China.

01:46From a tourism point of view, I mean, it's an incredible transformation that we've seen over that period of time.

01:52How would you put that into context from the perspective of tourism?

01:56It's absolutely incredible. If you can talk about the history of China from 75 years from now,

02:03I have to say that when you go there, you always see something new.

02:09It's incredible, but it's a country that is always innovating.

02:13You have seen that mixture between modernity and, of course, tradition.

02:18How important is China to global tourism?

02:21China is really important. First of all, I already mentioned,

02:25top investor in the world when it comes to infrastructure, hotel infrastructure and business development.

02:34Second of all, when it comes to tourists, they are the ones that spend the most.

02:39So 196 billion expenditure only from tourists from China all around the globe.

02:49So it helps us as well to promote and to increase GDP among all the countries.

02:56Give us an idea of the importance of tourism in terms of understanding each other, people to people exchanges.

03:06Tourism doesn't understand about borders. Tourism doesn't understand about wars, about tensions.

03:16Tourism is about mutual understanding. Tourism is about openness.

03:20It's about bringing new cultures together. That's the magic of tourism.

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