A BAHRAINI has become the first Gulf resident to attend a specialised United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) university course which will allow him to operate as a UN development volunteer.
Abdulla Abdulaziz was chosen from among almost 80 applicants to participate in the UNWTO Themis Foundation’s yearly course in tourism and international cooperation for development which was run at the University of Brighton, England.
During the course, young professionals and university graduates are exposed to the realities faced by development programmes, especially tourism-related ones, and are given the theoretical-practical training that they need to join the team of volunteers, experts and collaborators who work in UNWTO member states.
The intensive course tackles concepts and case studies in the area of development cooperation and tourism, with special emphasis on the methodologies the UNWTO uses in its volunteer projects in developing countries.
Completion means Abdulaziz is now eligible to join UNWTO projects worldwide and he hopes it will enable him to push for the development of sustainable tourism in his own native Bahrain.
He said: “My horizons have been widened by completing the course.
“I am now confident of being able to take part in any tourism and international cooperation for development projects managed by the UNWTO.”
He is also in the process of setting up a society aimed at promoting sustainable tourism in Bahrain and has recruited a fellow course member to join him in the project.