“Today one of my dreams from when I was little is being fulfilled: to be the Colombian woman who holds the highest position in the UN,” she said. Natalya Bayona on her social networks after her appointment as the new executive director of the World Tourism Organization.

At less than 40 years old, she is the youngest woman to hold the position and is taking on a major challenge: to create and promote sustainable and inclusive tourism around the world.

This morning Bayona participated in an interview on the program so it brokeby Radio City (89.3 FM in Guayaquil)in which she talked about her career, her main goals and initiatives and how she perceives tourism in Ecuador.

“I have been working in tourism all my life”, said the executive director, highlighting that one of her functions in Colombia was to be the first manager of vacation tourism. He then had the opportunity to meet the UNWTO Secretary General, Zurab Pololikashviliwith whom he managed to get Medellín to organize a meeting of the organization.

The UN approves the first treaty to protect the high seas, in an agreement that allows for the establishment of marine protected areas in international waters

According to Bayona, Pololikashvili wanted to restructure the UNWTO, so he called on her to the entity’s first director of innovationwhere he worked on strengthening the ecosystem of Startup worldwide and connect investors with companies, with academia and thus promote tourism. Finally, the Secretary appointed its Executive Director.

“I’m very happy for America and of course very happy to be able to work here freehand, as they say in my country,” he noted.

In the radio interview, Bayona emphasized the importance of tourism, which he mentions “the most humane economic sector of all”. For this reason, he pointed out that his priority right now is education.

“Without education, we cannot develop strong human capital and thereby strengthen the workforce in this sector. We must continue to professionalise our people”, he indicated.

That’s what the platform is for. online Tourism Online Academy, where anyone can study various tourism topics with the approval of international universities.

Then, Bayona explains, comes the innovation programs like “betting on tech entrepreneurs, connecting them with governments to run pilot projects, and our investment programs.”

“We just got the Investment Promotion Guide in Ecuador: a job we did with the minister Niels Olsen. We also did it with the Development Bank of Latin America to be able to create a framework for investment promotion and help countries build an investment culture,” he said.

Go to more scholarships and training, among the strategies to promote Ecuador with an investment of $7.5 million

The goal is that as an organization they “use natural resources efficiently so that future generations can have tourism equal to or better than what we’ve had”.

The Executive Director was present at the World Tourism Organization for America Regional Commission meeting, which took place in Quito on June 27.

“Now more than ever, I applaud the promotion of tourism promotion in Ecuador like never before.“, he pointed. “Ecuador has just given a message of stability to the world: It is the first country to have just completed a debt-for-biodiversity swapa highly innovative way to develop investments and ensure security”.

Bayona also said she was impressed by the changes in the country’s image and the promotion of its products and traditions. Ecuador “is a fascinating country and that’s why I say tourism should be promoted as an engine of development,” he said.