Tourism and music: a strategic alliance for innovation, investment and employment

UN Tourism signed an international agreement with UMusic Hospitality & Lifestyle (UMHL) and the Center for Music Ecosystems (CME) to promote music tourism as a new driver of innovation, investment, and employment. The announcement was made during the 26th UN Tourism General Assembly in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and aims to integrate music and entertainment into global tourism development strategies.

Music tourism encompasses all travel motivated by music-related experiences, such as concerts, festivals, themed tours, cultural venues, and hospitality offerings designed around the musical identity of each destination. This segment is growing rapidly and is estimated to reach a value of $267 billion by 2030. Many emerging destinations possess valuable musical heritage but lack the research, strategic frameworks, and investment to professionally develop it, and this agreement aims to address those needs.

The agreement includes the development of studies and tools by the CME to enable destinations to integrate music into their tourism planning. UMHL, for its part, will apply this knowledge to hospitality projects and creative experiences that combine culture, music, and tourism. UN Tourism will incorporate these initiatives into its global programs to promote inclusive, sustainable, and accessible development that directly benefits local communities.

The initiative opens up particularly relevant opportunities for Latin America, a region with enormous musical diversity and high potential for differentiation. Destinations can develop new tourism products based on their sonic identity, strengthen festivals and events, create cultural circuits, and design immersive experiences that connect with global audiences. An exciting field also opens up for the MICE sector, integrating musical offerings into corporate events, incentive trips, and conferences. The alliance represents an opportunity to enrich the tourism offering, attract new investment, and generate employment in creative industries linked to tourism.

Taken together, the agreement between UN Tourism, UMHL and CME marks an important step towards a more innovative vision of tourism, where music becomes a strategic element to boost economic development, strengthen communities and position destinations in an increasingly competitive market.

Source: UN Tourism.