Hindi @ UNWTO Academy

Zurab Pololikashvili,  Secretary General, UNWTO, who was recently in Delhi to attend the World Tourism Day celebrations, shared that Hindi has now made its way into the UNWTO Academy course.

Nisha Verma

Zurab Pololikashvili, attended the UNWTO World Tourism Day celebrations in New Delhi, centred on the theme, ‘Tourism and Jobs: A Better Future For All’. Speaking at the event, Pololikashvili said, “The true potential of tourism, both as a creator of jobs and as a driver of equality and sustainable development, is only just being realised. Providing decent work opportunities and contributing to developing professional skills are at the heart of this.”

At the event, he also shared that Hindi was being included in UNWTO’s online academy course to help Indian tourism students learn effectively.

We are very happy that India is helping translate these courses and starting from next year, we can work together to grant these courses all over India

Adding that they termed 2019 as the ‘Year of Education in Tourism’, he said, “We are very happy that India is helping translate these courses and starting from next year, we can work together to grant these courses all over India. Next year, we are going to announce the year of rural and eco-tourism, and we need more educated and competitive people in the region. This will be a very good opportunity for us to give education and basic knowledge, at least to families who now want to move to another part of the world because of jobs.”

Talking about India and the initiatives the country has taken for promoting and boosting tourism, Pololikashvili said, “We all need to promote the visa and taxation steps the Indian government has taken. I am sure, in many countries, people don’t know what is happening here and that’s why we are here to use this occasion to promote more about these reforms happening in India. The country is one of the fastest growing economies and tourism sectors in the world. We will see how many things we can do together.”

He stressed that after the introduction of Hindi translation in their courses, they are going to take more such initiatives. “We will continue our projects, like online academy and innovation hub – a platform we created for entrepreneurs to launch their projects. This is another opportunity for all of us to develop the tourism sector in India and the world,” he claimed.