The world marks World Tourism Day today under the slogan "Digital transformation and artificial intelligence for tourism," set by the World Tourism Organization, a UN agency. This year's official ceremony is in San Salvador.

Bulgaria's own event is in Varna, where an association of universities that teach tourism launches today. The founding meeting starts at 9:30am at the Cherno More hotel. At 11am, tourism minister Ilin Dimitrov and university rectors will plant trees in the Sea Garden, marking the start of an "International Tourism Alley."

The universities will work together on a permanent basis, swap students and teachers, look for partners abroad and build closer ties between education, business and the state, Dimitrov said. High schools will join the association later, and the plan is to grow it into a network of more than 200 universities across the Balkans and Europe, with the World Tourism Organization giving support and expertise.

About 15,000 students study tourism in schools and 1,400 in universities, the minister said late last week. He said those numbers fall short for a sector that employs close to 135,000 people directly, plus another 300,000 indirectly.

This year's theme was chosen because artificial intelligence is changing the sector — travelers increasingly use AI tools to find hotels, sights and routes. At the event, ministers and industry figures will show how AI can give governments, companies and tourists better answers, how to train workers for it, and how to find and promote new destinations. The day is meant to lay the groundwork for the sector's first common stance on AI, which the organization would then adopt.

In a message on the organization's website, secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili[1] says tourism technologies often don't talk to each other, leaving bookings, payments and data disconnected, and pledges to connect what isn't connected.

Unchecked, artificial intelligence could funnel tourists toward the same few spots and platforms, leaving many valuable destinations overlooked, UN secretary-general António Guterres warned. He called for investment in digital skills and wider access to technology. "Technology must serve humanity. Tourism workers, local communities and emerging destinations must help shape the future," Guterres said.

El Salvador's tourism minister, Morena Ileana Valdez Vigil, said the country wants to use technology and artificial intelligence to make the sector more modern and more inclusive.

World Tourism Day has been marked since 1980 on the initiative of the World Tourism Organization. Last year's theme was "Tourism and Sustainable Transformation."