Tourism Committee (TOU) Dr. Sérgio Guerreiro
1.
What is the mission and mandate of your Committee?
The recently renewed mandate of the Tourism Committee is to optimise the economic, environmental and socio-cultural benefits of tourism at national and sub-national level through medium and long-term strategic planning and sustainable development, soundly-developed data-driven tourism policy, and an integrated governmental approach promoting greater coherence between tourism and related policies. It seeks to improve the competitiveness, attractiveness and inclusiveness of destinations, and promote the digital, green and structural transformations for a sustainable tourism economy. 2. You have been designated Committee Chair. What is your background and what has convinced you to take up this post? How do you consider your background and experience contribute to such a role and function? With more than 25 years of experience in the tourism sector in the areas of strategy, market intelligence, tourism policy and innovation, I am currently Senior Director for Knowledge Management and Innovation at Turismo de Portugal. I Chair the OECD Tourism Committee and European Travel Commission’s Market Intelligence Group, and am also a Tourism Expert in several workgroups from other international bodies including UNWTO and WEF. I have a PhD in Tourism, a MSc in Public Management and Administration and a BSc in Economics, and teach in the tourism field as Invited Adjunct Professor at Nova SBE, Nova IMS and Universidad Europea das Canarias and Executive Director of NovaSBE’s Westmont Institute of Tourism and Hospitality. I have been involved with the Bureau of the Tourism Committee since 2011. I fully understood the role it has to play, and believed that my experience might help the Committee achieve its goals. 3.
What is your main priority as Chair?
My priority as Chair of the Tourism Committee is to continue to raise the level of engagement of Committee Members, and to improve the visibility of the Committee’s work. I have been working in areas critical to the future of tourism policies, like innovation or sustainability, and I believe I have a responsibility to bring that vision to the Committee, to help share knowledge in this area, and to work to ensure that the Tourism Committee is positioned as a leading organisation in this field that better supports governments as they work to define their strategic options. 4. How would you define the added value of your Committee in relation to the work of the OECD in an international context? How does it differ from other international fora dealing with the same topic? The long OECD history and 74 years of Tourism Committee experience to improve prospects and policies for
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