The Second Meeting of the IORA Core Group on Tourism (CGT) was held virtually on 21 December 2021 and was chaired by the United Arab Emirates. The meeting brought together representatives from IORA Member States, Dialogue Partners, and international organisations, reflecting continued regional engagement on tourism cooperation amid ongoing pandemic recovery efforts.
The meeting opened with remarks by the outgoing Chair, the incoming CGT Chair from Mauritius, and the Acting IORA Secretary General. Participants adopted the agenda and reviewed progress in implementing tourism-related activities under the First IORA Action Plan (2017–2021). The meeting also took note of updates on tourism objectives under the Second IORA Action Plan (2022–2027), which would be led by Mauritius as the incoming CGT Chair.
Discussions focused on reviewing the status of the CGT Work Plan (2018–2021), with Member States sharing updates on implementation. The Secretariat was tasked to consolidate these inputs to support the development of a new CGT Work Plan for 2022–2027. Mauritius presented a draft framework for the new Work Plan, outlining key priorities, timelines, and the establishment of an ad hoc drafting subcommittee to finalise the document with Member State inputs.
The meeting also considered emerging issues relevant to tourism recovery, including a presentation by Australia on international standards for vaccination certification to facilitate safe travel. In addition, Dialogue Partners and international organisations outlined capacity-building initiatives, notably UN Women’s work on promoting women’s economic empowerment in tourism. The meeting agreed to integrate women’s economic empowerment as a cross-cutting priority in the new CGT Work Plan.
Dialogue Partners, including Italy and the Vanilla Islands Organisation, expressed interest in supporting training, cruise tourism development, and research collaboration. The meeting concluded with agreement on next steps for finalising the decision report and advancing the preparation of the new CGT Work Plan, reaffirming IORA’s commitment to coordinated, inclusive, and sustainable tourism development in the Indian Ocean Region.
