Youth Summit to create tomorrow’s climate friendly travel leaders through a virtual program of fun and educational events, as well as create Climate Friendly Travel Champions.

SUNx Malta will host the first ever climate friendly youth travel summit in April 2021. The ‘Strong Earth Youth Summit’ (SEYS) will include lectures, workshops and other educational activities aimed at highlighting the need for a clean and green post-Covid future for the tourism sector, in accordance with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and 2050 Paris Agreement.

The virtual event, held on 29 April, will be in partnership with Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA), British Columbia, Canada; Institute of Tourism Studies, Malta (ITS); and the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO). Events will be held in three centres: the Mekong, Malta and British Columbia.

SEYS will focus on creating awareness of Climate Friendly Travel (CFT) and on fostering ways to encourage changes for a resilient Travel & Tourism future. It aims to promote climate hope in the recovery of the tourism industry through awareness and education, youth empowerment, and engagement and action.

Announcing the youth summit, Professor Geoffrey Lipman, President of SUNx Malta, said, “This is not just another of the many Travel & Tourism summits. SEYS is designed for tomorrow's leaders by tomorrow's leaders – the 45 students from 30 countries we have on our first ever Climate Friendly Travel Diploma Course with ITS Malta. We charged them with creating an event that would be meaningful and attractive for the Greta Thunberg crowd.

“SEYS will identify the core issues for the post–pandemic green and clean tourism sector. Our students are putting together a fast and fun program, with engaging speakers, who will captivate a global youth leadership audience.”

The Summit will include virtual tours, interactive workshops, seminars, challenges, presentations, networking, and question and answer sessions, as well as an information session on the Climate Friendly Travel Diploma and Climate Friendly Travel Registry. The program has been designed by the students on the first Climate Friendly Travel Diploma Course with ITS Malta.

SEYS will honour the vision and contribution of the late Maurice Strong, a close friend of Lipman, after whom the summit is named. Strong was the architect of the UN Sustainable Development and Climate Framework for half a century, and inspiration for SUNx Malta and its Climate Friendly Travel System.

“SEYS will be the first of an annual testimony to the legacy of Maurice Strong, Champion for the planet, who warned about the Climate Crisis 50 years ago and spent the rest of his life building the UN framework to respond to it,” says Lipman.

SEYS will also launch the Strong Awards to encourage students to profile Breakthrough Innovations in Climate Friendly Travel, together with Les Roches Hospitality School.

For more information on the SEYS or to register for it, visit www.thesunprogram.com