ATO Leads UNWTO General Assembly in Riyadh: AI, Sustainability, and Real-World Collaboration
The Arab Tourism Organisation (ATO) took a leading role at the 26th UNWTO General Assembly in Riyadh, pushing AI and innovation from theory into practice for global tourism. It was the largest Assembly in the UNWTO's 50-year history and the first hosted in the GCC-clear signal of where momentum is building.
Hosted by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Tourism, the gathering brought around 160 delegations, including ministers, operators, and technology leaders. The agenda focused on sustainable growth, digital transformation, and practical ways AI can improve guest experience, operations, and environmental outcomes.
Across four plenary sessions and seven committee meetings, delegates explored AI-driven visitor management, personalization, demand forecasting, and data standards. The consistent thread: better decisions, leaner operations, and measurable sustainability.
Saudi Arabia reinforced its commitment with two moves that matter for regional operators: opening the first UNWTO Regional Office for the Middle East and serving on the UNWTO Executive Council for 2023-2024. For hospitality and events teams, that means more programs, funding routes, and collaboration pathways coming from Riyadh.
Riyadh proved its capability as a major host city with high-capacity venues, strong transport links, and a growing hospitality pipeline. The event ran as a live case study for scaled logistics, guest flow, and service standards.
Why this matters for hospitality and events professionals
- AI is moving into core ops: forecasting, pricing, staffing, guest service, and sustainability tracking.
- Data interoperability is becoming a baseline expectation across hotels, venues, OTAs, and destination systems.
- Personalization is shifting from marketing promise to on-property reality (offers, itineraries, F&B, and events).
- Energy and waste optimization are now commercial levers, not just compliance tasks.
- Safety, crowd management, and accessibility benefit from computer vision, sensors, and smart scheduling.
- Regional collaboration will accelerate standards and funding for innovation pilots.
Practical AI use cases you can implement this quarter
- Dynamic staffing and scheduling using demand forecasts to cut overtime and improve service levels.
- Room and space optimization with AI-aided pricing and inventory controls for rooms, meeting spaces, and events.
- Energy management with predictive controls for HVAC and lighting tied to occupancy and event timelines.
- Guest experience copilots for concierge, pre-arrival planning, and on-site FAQs across multiple languages.
- Queue and flow optimization for check-in, badge pickup, and transport load balancing.
- Automated sustainability reporting using real-time utility and waste streams mapped to ESG frameworks.
What to do next
- Run a 60-day pilot in one area: forecasting, energy, or guest service. Define one metric and publish the result internally.
- Audit your data: reservations, PMS, POS, CRM, ticketing, and access control. Fix gaps before adding more tools.
- Add AI-readiness language to vendor RFPs: open APIs, data export, security certifications, and bias/QA processes.
- Stand up a lightweight governance checklist covering privacy, consent, and model oversight.
- Upskill your team-front desk, sales, ops, and event managers-on prompt skills and AI-enabled workflows.
- Partner locally via associations and the new UNWTO Regional Office to co-fund trials and share benchmarks.
The message from Riyadh was clear: innovation is inseparable from sustainable growth. For operators, the edge goes to teams that pair disciplined data practices with small, fast AI pilots that pay for themselves.
Learn more from the sources leading this agenda: UNWTO and Saudi Ministry of Tourism.
If you're building AI capability across hospitality or events roles, explore practical training and course paths: Complete AI Training - courses by job.
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