President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has attended a dinner hosted to commemorate the closing of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Summit on Community-based Tourism."

The dinner was hosted at the CROSSROADS Maldives, where Vice President Faisal Naseem also accompanied the president.

The two-day summit was organized jointly by the Ministry of Tourism of Maldives and the UNWTO and featured discussions on the contribution of community-based tourism in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the challenges and opportunities from the perspectives of the diverse actors across the tourism value chain, that accompany it.

A ministerial debate was held on the first day of the summit. The debate was held on community-based tourism.

Three thematic sessions followed on Thursday; on gastronomy tourism, agro-tourism, and community-based Tourism.

The summit was steered towards ministers and officials from UNWTO member countries, international organizations, industry experts and professionals as well as local associations from the tourism sector.

The summit was hosted in the Maldives this year as the island nation marks 50 years in 2022 since the tourism industry’s inception in 1972.