UNWTO Wine Tourism Conference to Focus on Innovation, Sustainability and Creativity

The World Tourism Organization will hold its 6th UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism in Alba in the Piemonte region of Italy during September 19-21.

Under the theme ‘What’s next? Wine tourism pairs with Innovation…’ and building up on the success of the past five editions, the UNWTO’s 6th edition will take place at the heart of the ‘Vineyard Landscape of Piemonte: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato’, a UNESCO recognized Heritage Site.

Featuring over 30 international speakers, the conference will focus on the role of innovation in the future of wine tourism, how can wine tourism be more sustainable and what are the opportunities of digital and social to enhance the wine tourism value chain and create local benefits.

“As the sector’s recovery get underway, I am confident that the conference will represent a unique opportunity to learn from experiences that face up these challenging times to ensure a successful and resilient wine tourism sector in the future,” UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili says.

Over the two days of this edition, 300 professionals from the sector, leading experts and institutional representatives will benefit from the live debates, keynote speeches and workshops that experienced speakers will bring to Alba.

The conference also includes a high-level panel on The Future of Wine Tourism, where the necessary policies to advance wine tourism will be discussed by the Minister of Tourism of Bulgaria, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, the Deputy Minister of Tourism of Greece, the Minister of Tourism of Italy, the Minister of Culture of Moldova, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services of Portugal, the Minister of Tourism, Posts, Cooperation and Expo of San Marino and the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia.

Since 2016, the conference has highlighted the importance of wine tourism to the socio-economic development of destinations and has served as a platform to exchange experiences, identify good practices and promote wine tourism as a tool for sustainable development.