UN Tourism Urban Global Forum

Attention: The forum, which had been ratified by UN Tourism, was postponed due to the 12-day war that began on 23 June 2025, followed by the US-Israel strikes against Iran. According to the latest coordination, the forum is expected to be held in 2027.

Introduction

Tourism can stimulate economic growth, create decent jobs and business opportunities, assist millions escape poverty and improve their livelihoods. With its significant contribution to socio-economic development, the popularity of tourism industry is growing much faster than most sectors and its growth rate is even higher than that of the tourism across the world. On the other hand, the New Urban Agenda and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) accentuates the necessity of fostering communication and cooperation networks among cities, Urban Diplomacy, and facilitating the ex-change of information, technical expertise and global experiences to help policy maker and urban authorities pursue goals of cultural, economic and touristic development and prosperity, and improve urban livability.

Having the aforesaid principles in mind, the Abasabad Cultural and Tourism Area of Tehran, submitted the proposal for hosting “UN Tourism Global Summit on Urban Tourism” and “Mayors Forum for UN Tourism” in 2019. This proposal was made on behalf of Iran’s capital city, Tehran, which is the largest city of Iran and one of the 30 most important metropolitan areas in the world.

The theme incorporated in the proposal was “Sustainable Urban Tourism”. To pursue this goal, numerous correspondences, negotiations and follow-ups have been made, which was finally approved and announced to the government of Iran through an official letter by the Secretary General of UN Tourism in 18 December 2024. It’s important to note that in the mentioned letter, the secretary general expressed the secretariat intention to discontinued the “Mayors’ Forum on Sustainable Tourism” event in 2025. Subsequently after several bilateral meetings and discussions between the secretariat and the host, finally the name of the Tehran’s 2025 event changed to “UN Tourism Global Forum on Urban Tourism”. It is anticipated that, with the UN Tourism's special supportive and collaborative perspective on Tehran’s experiences, capacities, and interests in playing a more significant role in urban tourism, we will soon see the organization of this important global event in Tehran.

In light of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage existing in Tehran, together with its enormous tourism capacities, rich and unique experiences in the field of international interactions and urban diplomacy, as well as suitable infrastructure and facilities existing in the city for holding international events and conferences; the present proposal for hosting this important event is fully supported by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Tehran Municipality, Tehran City Council and other national and local institutions and organizations in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Tehran’s capacities and potentialities

With some 7,000 years of civilizational records, Tehran is the 238-year-old capital of the historic and glorious country of Iran. As a metropolitan city and as one of the largest and most populated cities in the world, Tehran has unique tourism capacities that are yet to be known to the global community. Consequently, foreign tourists mainly perceive Tehran as a gateway to Iran.

Enjoying an intricate landscape composed of buildings and architectures belonging to different historical periods along with some modern forms of contemporary life, this metropolis has a plethora of cultural and civilizational attractions. Aesthetically speaking, this city is very pleasant and eye-catching.

Thanks to a large number of galleries, museums, and cultural and artistic places existing in Tehran, is known as a city-museum and falls within the range of cultural-artistic cities of the world. On the other hand, the development of modern elements and features with cutting-the-edge technologies, creative architecture, and unique attractions, puts Tehran in the list of modern cities of the world. With several creative industries and businesses as well as advanced technologies found in Tehran, this city can be considered one of the “planets in the system of creative and smart cities”.

Tehran is fully capable and prepared to host the Global Forum on Urban Tourism and the Mayors Forum for UN Tourism as it has various accommodation centers such as four and five-star hotels, Mehrabad Domestic Airport and Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA), efficient public transportation systems such as subways, buses, BRTs, internet-based taxi networks, nice communication and information infrastructures, large and magnificent conference halls, and high levels of safety and health infrastructures. Additionally, it has rich experiences in organizing and holding exhibitions, conferences, festivals, competitions and large and great events safely and decently at various global, regional, national, and local levels. By the same token, Tehran commits itself to observing standards and protocols related to organizing such events.

Abasabad Cultural and Tourism Area of Tehran (ACTAT)

Abasabad Cultural and Tourism Area run by Abasabad Renovation Company (affiliated to Tehran Municipality), has long been considered as one of the important hubs for urban development plans of Tehran due to its size, integrity, nature and unique position in the physical-spatial system of the city of Tehran. With an area of over 560 hectares, this Area has turned into the largest cultural and tourism area of the capital. It is regarded as one of the most important projects for the development of cultural and urban green spaces on a local, national and international scales.

In recent years, special attention has been paid by managers of the Area to its presence and activities in international arenas, to the extent that it became a member of UN Tourism in 2018. Additionally, it has been managing the Urban Tourism Committee of the Asian Mayors Forum since 2019. Authorities of this vast Area welcomed the proposal to establish the Eco Park in Abasabad Hills which was presented in 2013 and aimed at developing regional and international interactions and promoting the cultural and tourism capacities of Tehran and other capitals and megacities of the ECO region whose member states include 10 countries namely Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The Eco Park was inaugurated in the presence of foreign ministers and diplomatic officials of the ECO member states, the mayor of Tehran and some other local authorities in November 26, 2013. Currently, Eco Park is considered as the largest park in the western wing of Abasabad neighborhood of Tehran that has been established with cultural, tourism and recreational functions. With an area of 27,000 square meters, the Eco Park is located to the north of Nowruz Park and is regarded as one of the common cultural indicators among the ECO member states.

UN Tourism Global Forum on Urban Tourism

Urban tourism is one of the first types of the tourism industry. Urban tourism destinations use their special features as tourism target markets to gain a competitive advantage over other cities. Smart cities contribute to provide better opportunities for fostering sustainable economic growth, promoting employment, developing infrastructures and enhancing the sustainability of cities. One of the most important functions of smart cities has been defined in the field of tourism. From this perspective, a smart city and a smart destination means adopting innovation, technology and available resources for the development of an integrated and sustainable urban management, rendering services and providing facilities for citizens and tourists.

Meetings of the Global Summit on Urban Tourism and the Mayors Forum UN Tourism are held to exchanging experiences and assist policy-makers and urban managers on how to develop creative and smart cities to deal with growing problems and encounter complex urban challenges. Realizing the importance of tourism in the city, the Global Forum on Urban Tourism seeks to implement tools to help cities in the process of developing the sustainable tourism. It is such a goal whose realization is a sine qua non for achieving sustainable development goals and it is mainly pursued and communicated through the urban tourism network of UN Tourism.

The First Global Summit on Urban Tourism was held in 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey. Seven consecutive summits were held in Moscow, Russia (2013), Barcelona, Spain (2014),

Morocco (2015), Luxor, Egypt (2016), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017), Seoul, South Korea (2018) and Astana (Nur Sultan), Kazakhstan (2019).

Also, two meetings of the Mayors' Forum for Sustainable Urban Tourism have been held so far in the cities of Lisbon, Portugal (2019) and Porto, Portugal (2021). In addition to representatives of affiliated members, these meetings were attended by a number of ministers of tourism and government officials, as well as a group of mayors of capitals, metropolises and tourism cities from all over the world.

In 2019, Tehran Municipality (through Abasabad Cultural and Tourism Area) expressed its desire to simultaneously host the Global Summit on Urban Tourism and also the Mayors Forum for Sustainable Urban Tourism.

Goals

Creating a platform for presenting and sharing positive and constructive experiences in the field of urban tourism,
Fostering friendship, solidarity and peace among countries, cities and citizen,
Introducing and promoting urban tourism attractions and destinations,
Investigating and analyzing the current trend and the future perspective of urban tourism development,
Dealing with the challenges of sustainable social, economic and environmental development in urban tourism,
Strengthening the role of tourism in empowerment of cities and local communities,
Investigating strategies and mechanisms for tourism marketing development,
Identifying and presenting the capacities and unknown, little-known and emerging urban tourism destinations.

Main Topic (Theme)

The Unban Tourism We Need: Resilient, Smart, and Sustainable

Background & Objectives

Tourism is a key driver of global socioeconomic development. In recent years, it has become an essential pillar of development of many cities, generating income and jobs, protecting cultural and natural heritage, fostering culture and creativity, and serving as a catalyst for social inclusion and improved living conditions for local communities.
Prior to the pandemic, it was the third-largest export category globally and one of the world’s leading employers, especially women, representing 54% of the workforce. Having been hard hit by COVID-19 the sector has virtually recovered (99%) pre-pandemic levels in 2024, with most cities and destinations exceeding 2019 number of international arrivals.
When developed sustainably, tourism has the potential to advance urban infrastructure and universal accessibility, preserve cultural and natural assets, stimulate creative industries, promote the regeneration of neglected areas, enhance mobility and innovation, and foster intercultural dialogue. Yet, alongside the various opportunities that tourism represents, its significant growth and structural changes have increased existing challenges and externalities in host destinations. The UN Tourism Global Forum on Urban Tourism aims to stimulate open debate and exchange of good practices to fostering collective knowledge on the actions, strategies and governance approaches necessary to optimize the positive effects of tourism in cities minimizing its externalities, ensuring
shared and inclusive benefits of tourism. The forum will highlight good practices on how to successfully integrate tourism into the urban agenda, focusing on urban regeneration, cultural heritage and creativity. It will also explore the necessary approaches and policymaking required to shape the future of urban tourism. Through panel discussions, presentations and case studies, the forum will create a space that allows the identification of cross-cutting synergies and partnerships within and among cities and key stakeholders at all levels encouraging public-private-community collaboration, facilitating solutions to
urban tourism challenges, ultimately accelerating the transformation of cities into better places to visit and live, aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which call for making our cities more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.