The UNWTO event, which was hosted at the Maraya Concert Hall, was called “Tourism — Changing Lives.”AlUla Old Town boasts 900 houses, 500 shops and five town squares.

The event was to highlight achievements in tourism, and some 32 locations received awards.Saudi Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb said that the villages receiving recognition had been commended due to their strong commitment to economic, social and environmental sustainability in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and for embracing the development of tourism as a key driver for positive transformation.The main objective of the initiative was to support local communities, particularly villages, to create income for communities through new jobs, education, innovation, and investment.Zurab Pololikashvili, UNWTO secretary-generalSecretary General of the UNWTO Zurab Pololikashvili told Arab News that the main objective of the initiative was to support local communities, particularly villages, to create income for communities through new jobs, education, innovation, and investment.He added: “We are very happy that we had more than 40 countries coming. Ambassadors, ministers, representatives of villages, mayors, [and the] private sector.

“That means tourism has the power to bring people together, to bring countries together. And I’m sure that after these days we will have excellent outcomes and we will have more and more best villages in the next two or three years.”International tourism recovered to 63 percent of its pre-pandemic levels in 2022, according to UNWTO.Pololikashvili said that accessibility and making tourism more affordable were among the main goals in the future.He added: “We are cooperating with the local governors and local governments to help create new and old destinations, and to create new jobs.”Speaking of the future, Amr Al-Madani, CEO of the Royal Commission for AlUla, said: “We’ll make it [AlUla] more innovative, more inclusive, and there is no better sector than tourism that can help achieve this.“People are smart, they have lived here. How to create wealth, how to create proper agriculture? As a matter of fact, sometimes we decision-makers could benefit from a little bit more training from the local community.“They will make mistakes; we will make mistakes. And then we evolve our collective skill based together. Now that being said, we are set to create new types of shops, technologies, and new expertise.”Carmen Roberts, presenter of BBC’s “The Travel Show,” told Arab News that the public’s perception of tourism had changed drastically since the pandemic.She said: “I think everything’s had a reset. I think people are looking for more authenticity. They are looking for getting off the beaten track. I think mass tourism has had its day.“People are looking for that little bit extra, but also people are tight on time. Time is money for people, and they don’t want to be wasting their time going to somewhere that is not sustainable.”Roberts spoke of her visit to Zell am See, a town in the Austrian Alps that also received an award at the ceremony, and told Arab News that she would be supportive of a series about such locations.She said: “It’s amazing that such small rural places are getting recognition.“I think that would be a fantastic and fascinating series. To go and see these villages, see how they’re marketing themselves to the world, because that’s also another big thing.“You know, how do you market yourself? Is rural tourism a hard sell? I would have said yes, but I think now there’s a real shift in what people want from their holidays.”