World Tourism Organization Forum in Cartagena de Indias

UNTWO Forum in Cartagena de Indias

Rome/ Cartagena de Indias [ENA] The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism, organized in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), the ‘UNWTO Tourism Tech Adventure: Scaling Up´. As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UNWTO promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental

sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide. On 29.April, with the support of the Colombian government, the event gathered 700 participants from around the world. Start-ups, academia, corporations, investors, business incubators and accelerators, and debated with the public sector how to support and scale innovative business ideas for sustainable tourism development. The purposes of the event were to deal with a national innovation forum connecting the key players of the tourism innovation ecosystem and scaling up disruptive business models.

The event served as a framework for the first Colombian platform for entrepreneurship and tourism innovation, which aims at creating interactions between relevant stakeholders, exchanging success stories and promoting a venture capital investment culture. The forum also functioned as a space for seed and growth stage investors to share insights on how to face the challenges of scaling up, or how to approach and engage with investors. Amadeus Ventures, Bluebox, Angel Ventures and Dux Capital were among the firms present. Before the Forum, 15 Colombian startups participated in a Startup MasterClass. UNWTO partner IE Business School offered feedback on their pitches, business plans and sustainability focus, and provided large-scale advice

on how to attract investment. This pro-active event was followed by an actual start up competition with the top prize going to James Figueroa from GDX Travel. The second prize went to Eduardo Maldonado from Tourbitz and the third to Miguel Antonio Paez from Escappy Travel. The winner was given access to collaborate at the Wayra Coworking Space in the capital Bogotá, including personalized mentoring from the Wayra Colombia team. The winner will also have the opportunity to present the project pitch in the framework of the 23rd Meeting of the UNWTO General Assembly (9-13 September 2019, Saint Petersburg, Russia).