The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has partnered with Sommet Education for an innovative Hospitality Challenge. The initiative will grant 30 scholarships for world-class education programmes and support career climbers and switchers, entrepreneurs and innovators develop themselves and their projects and so help drive tourism’s recovery.
Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought tourism to a standstill. Now, as the sector restarts, this competition is designed to identify ideas and individuals capable of accelerating recovery while promoting inclusivity and sustainability in the sector to invent the hospitality of tomorrow. Selection criteria include the degree of disruptiveness, project maturity, and potential for implementation, as well as viability, scalability, digitalization, sustainability, and the potential to attract the interest of investors. The competition will focus on four different categories:
- Luxury travels, goods, and services
- Hotels and hotel-related operations: small to medium-sized properties, family businesses
- Food and Beverage: restaurants, catering, delivery services, and retail
- Smart Real Estate: small to medium-sized properties and family businesses
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “The tourism sector is a source of employment for many millions. Jobs in tourism provide opportunity, empowerment, and equality, including for women, youth and people living in rural communities. As we restart tourism, the time is right to rethink hospitality and to identify and implement new ideas to make the sector more inclusive and sustainable. The UNWTO Hospitality Challenge will do just this.”
Benoit-Etienne Domenget, Chief Executive Officer at Sommet Education added: “This crisis presents us with an opportunity to reconcile visions of the world that have been too long opposed to inventing the hospitality of tomorrow. We believe education is the foundation of a more hospitable world. Offering scholarships is a contribution to the recovery of the hospitality economy, by accelerating the personal development of talented people with creative views, supporting their vision, and revamp hospitality.”
The competition is open now and will close at the end of August. A Selection Committee made up of an international network of investors, entrepreneurs, and experts from UNWTO Member, Affiliate Members, and strategic allies, as well as from representatives of Sommet Education, will then choose 30 finalists.
The 30 finalists will be eligible for full scholarships in 15 different programmes in Hospitality, Culinary and Pastry Arts Management, (Bachelors, Masters, MBAs) offered in the world-class academic institutions of Sommet Education: Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland and London, Les Roches Crans-Montana in Switzerland, Les Roches Marbella in Spain and École Ducasse in France.
Among the 30 winners, the top three most innovative entrepreneurial projects will be granted funding to support their initial development. These projects will be funded by Eurazeo, a leading global investment group from which Sommet Education is a portfolio company. This will offer the three winners even more chances of success for their projects.
About UNWTO
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency fostering tourism as a vehicle for equal, inclusive, and sustainable development. Working with its Member States, international organizations, and the private sector, UNWTO promotes safe and seamless travel for all. UNWTO also works to make tourism the foundation of trust and international cooperation and a central pillar of the recovery from adversity. As part of the wider UN system, UNWTO is at the forefront of global efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including through its ability to create decent jobs, promote equality and preserve natural and cultural heritage.
About Sommet Education
Sommet Education is a unique education group specialized in hospitality management and the culinary arts, committed to delivering an exceptional student experience and developing future talent for the experience industry.
Its hospitality management institutions Glion and Les Roches, with campuses in Switzerland, Spain, China, and the UK, provide undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 countries with an education built on the Swiss model of academic rigor, skills-based learning, and dynamic multicultural exposure. The culinary and pastry schools of École Ducasse offer bachelor’s degrees, courses for career changers, and continuous professional training, as well as private courses for food enthusiasts, across three campuses in France and through partnerships with overseas universities.
Sommet Education is the only education network with two hospitality institutions ranked among the world’s top three for hospitality education and among the world’s top three for employer reputation (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020).
For more information, visit Sommet Education
