The G20 (G-20, Group of Twenty) is an international forum of governments of countries with the most developed and developing economies. The constituent conference of the G20 was held on December 15-16, 1999 in Berlin.
G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and the European Union (EU). In addition, G20 meetings are usually attended by representatives of various international organizations, including the IMF, WTO, UN and WBG.
The G20 chairmanship rotates between member countries every year. The presidency plays a leading role in setting the agenda and organizing the leaders' summit, which is attended by the heads of state and government of the G20. At the summit, leaders adopt a declaration, or communique, based on political discussions at meetings held throughout the year.
Ahead of the summit, the Presidium is holding several meetings with the participation of ministers, high-level government officials, and representatives of civil society.
On October 25-26, 2019, the Meeting of Tourism Ministers and Heads of Tourism Administrations of the G20 countries was held in Hokkaido (Japan). The session is aimed at developing initiatives in the field of tourism, raised during the meeting of the leaders of the G20 and the European Union in June 2019 in Osaka.
Tourism was first discussed as a strategic sector of the world economy by the leaders of the G20. In the final communiqué, they said that the industry will continue to be the most important growth factor in global economy.
Today the G20 tourism authorities are faced with the task of coordinating actions in the development of world tourism.
On the April 24th, 2020, the G20 countries hosted an extraordinary online meeting of tourism ministers and heads of tourism administrations. The goal was discussing response measures to the unprecedented impact on tourism of the COVID-19.
Within the framework of the meeting dedicated to tourism were discussed:
- ways to minimize the negative impact of the pandemic on the industry and social sphere of the countries;
- plans to recover tourism in the world after the restrictions are removed.
