UNWTO becomes "UN Tourism" to mark a new era for the global industry

26-01-24

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) today enters a new era with a new name and a new brand: UN Tourism. With this new brand, the Organization reaffirms its status as the United Nations specialized agency for tourism and the global leader in tourism for development, driving social and economic change to ensure that "people and planet" are at the center of attention.

UN Tourism: Transforming tourism for a better worldTo achieve this goal, UN Tourism engaged the services of Interbrand, the world's leading branding agency. Interbrand successfully translated the Organization's renewed vision for tourism into a new visual identity and brand narrative.

This entailed renaming the Organization from UNWTO to UN Tourism.At the same time, a brand narrative was meticulously crafted to align perfectly with UN Tourism's core mission and priorities. This narrative revolves around three main messages: the United Nations as a global altruistic organization, the notion of connecting people around the world, and the concept of proactivity and movement.

By moving away from acronyms, UN Tourism takes a more accessible stance and builds on its strengths: "UN," which stands for authority, and "tourism," which is a simple concept and one that all people can identify with. This change has been endorsed by the Organization's Members, underscoring their strong support for the profound transformation and reinvention of UN Tourism in recent years, as it has become more agile, visible and even closer to its Member States, its partners and the sector as a whole.

UN Tourism, which has 160 Member States and hundreds of private sector affiliates, is headquartered in Madrid (Spain), with Regional Offices in Nara (Japan) covering Asia and the Pacific, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) for the Middle East, and future Regional Offices for the Americas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Africa (Morocco). Its priorities focus on promoting tourism for sustainable development in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Global Goals. UN Tourism promotes quality education, supports decent jobs in the sector, identifies talent and drives innovation, and accelerates climate action and sustainability in tourism with:

• UN Tourism - GoMember States - as beneficiaries of its services and assistance and as active stakeholders in the Organization's Programme of Work.

• The people - specifically travelers and local communities whose lives are improved through the empowerment of the economy through tourism.

• Private, semi-private and public organizations - which collaborate with UN Tourism's work, including its data and ideas, events and products.

Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of UN Tourism, said: "As society progresses, the tourism sector, like many other sectors, needs to transform itself to become a catalyst for prosperity on a universal scale. Enhancing people's well-being, protecting the natural environment, stimulating economic progress and fostering international harmony are key objectives at the core of UN Tourism. The Organization assumes the role of driving a sustainable force that is now central to many economies."

Borja Borrero, Executive Director at Interbrand, commented: "The transition from UNWTO to UN Tourism marks a significant new phase for the Organization. The revised name has several advantages, including simplicity, better understanding, improved readability and ease of recall. It also serves to clarify the agency's sphere of influence in the global tourism industry. The new brand elements are the foundation for a distinct and unique image - an image that is direct, reliable and relevant to a diverse audience."

A world of possibilities: redefining tourismThe new brand expression is not only limited to words and messages, but also expands to a reinvented visual discourse. UN Tourism has a new design language that starts with its symbol. "Bringing the world closer" is the new tagline that inspires the concept of a Pangaea modeling a human figure in motion. This radical departure from the old global symbols reflects the Organization's emphasis on the dynamic nature of tourism and on putting people first.

Beyond the symbol, the new name also includes a modernization of the entire visual system, which is now based on a network of geographic coordinates designed to help people explore touch points, both online and offline, such as events, the website, reports, social media channels and campaigns. This system reveals a rich universe of elements including images, fonts, colors and pictograms designed to personalize social media campaigns, events, published messages and videos.

The new branding will be gradually established across all UN Tourism touch points over the coming months, starting with digital channels such as the website, social media accounts and newsletters, and then physical spaces such as offices and events, and elements such as reports and stationery.