A UAE business leader, Shaikha Al Nowais, was nominated Friday for the leadership position of the UN’s tourism agency. Her nomination will now be put to the United Nations General Assembly for its approval.
Al Nowais is on track to become the next Secretary General of UN Tourism, to begin in January 2026.
The tourism agency’s executive council voted on May 30 in Madrid to determine its leadership for the next four years. The winning candidate needed support from at least 18 of the council’s 35 members.
The move represents a landmark for the sector, as Al Nowais would be the first woman leader of UN Tourism in its 50-year history.
Al Nowais’ and UAE’s Moment
Nowais is a corporate vice president at Rotana, a local UAE hotel group in Abu Dhabi. It’s a role that connects her with potential investors in the UAE’s tourism industry, overseeing owner relations across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkey.
She’s also the daughter of Nasser Al Nowais, Rotana’s co-founder and chairman, who also served as founder and chairman of Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH), a government-owned hotel portfolio.
UN Tourism Refresh?
Al Nowais’ appointment is the latest in a string of tourism wins for Abu Dhabi, which just secured its own Disneyland park and a ‘Sphere’ from Sphere Entertainment in Las Vegas. While Dubai is more known for its tourism sector, Abu Dhabi is the administrative and financial capital of the UAE, where the ruler resides.
The leadership contest comes as UN Tourism struggles with major membership losses. The U.S., Canada, the Britain, and several Nordic countries have withdrawn, citing insufficient value for their financial contributions.
Al Nowais faced five other candidates, including incumbent Zurab Pololikashvili of Georgia, who sought a third term. UN Tourism initially questioned whether Pololikashvili could run again due to term limits, though the organization later said those concerns were resolved.
Other candidates included: Gloria Guevara (Mexico), a 35-year tourism industry veteran who was Minister for Tourism in Mexico, Harry Theoharis (Greece), who has served as Greece’s Minister of Tourism during the Covid-19 pandemic recovery phase, as well as Habib Ammar (Tunisia), a senior civil servant with decades of experience in Tunisia’s public administration, and Muhammad Adam (Ghana), a diplomat and former ambassador to Spain.
