Towards health and wellness tourism, sustainability, promotion of premium tourism in mountain areas, emerging tourism products and the training and recruitment of human talent, the 12th edition of the World Congress on Snow, Mountain and Wellness Tourism, has been scheduled to hold on March 20-22, 2024 in Andorra.
This congress which is themed ‘Mountainlikers: Sustainability and wellbeing, the keys to mountain tourism’ is within the framework of the United Nations Five Years of Action for the Development of Mountain Regions.
The congress will focus on health and wellness tourism, sustainability, the promotion of premium tourism in mountain areas, emerging tourism products and the training and recruitment of human talent.
On this occasion, UN Tourism will present its recent report prepared together with the Mountain Partnership (MP) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) “Understanding and Quantifying Mountain Tourism”.
Best Tourism Villages by UN Tourism awardees will also be represented by Saas-Fee of the Swiss region of Valais (BTV in 2021), St. Anton am Arlberg of Austria (BTV 2023) and Ordino of Andorra (BTV in 2023).
For this year’s edition, as a new element, the congress will focus on the theme of wellbeing, reflecting the demand of today’s tourists and the need to adapt offerings to new trends among travellers and to the challenges posed for mountain destinations by the need for diversification and the advance of climate change.
The congress which is organised by the Government of Andorra, UN Tourism and others will feature a round table talk on experiences in wellness tourism by speakers such as Lászlo Puczko, CEO of Health Tourism Worldwide, Joan Muro, President of the Health Tourism Association of Andorra Health Destination, and Emma Haefeli, Marketing Director of CHENOT GROUP (Switzerland), among others.
Also the event would feature ‘Spa Tourism’ with a view to further develop this segment in mountain areas; This topic will be addressed by the Congress of Csilla Mezősi, Secretary-General of the European Spas Association.
Sustainability will also be a key subject, with interventions from professionals such as Javier Corso, a National Geographic Explorer, who will present the project that the National Geographic has carried out together with Andorra Turisme to manage the impact of the sector on the environment and on people.
Education and capacity building will also have a prominent place in this edition of the congress, where Rui Zhou, President of the Bella Vista Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland, together with María Abellanett, President of CETT in Barcelona, will discuss the human resources challenges and needs in mountain tourism for the near future.
Sport will be another prominent theme, to be developed by David Astrié, Director of Icònic Andorra, who will present the medical-sports residential centre that aims to become a European and world leader for sports training at altitude. Successful experiences of representatives from Best of the Alps, Lech Zürs Tourism (Austria), the Pyrenees and Pic du Midi Agency (France) will also be highlighted.
