Gloria Guevara joined the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia as Chief Special Advisor to the Minister in 2021 to support the impressive transformation under Vision 2030 and the development of Travel & Tourism until 2024. She played an important role in helping the Kingdom surpass 100 million tourists, 7 years ahead of target. After contributing to the most successful WTTC global summit hosted in Riyadh, Guevara continues to build bridges between Saudi Arabia and the world by welcoming CEOs and investors, as well as more than 1,000 youth from over 100 countries to the Kingdom.  She has also developed the Sustainable Tourism Global Center initiative under the leadership of Saudi Arabia.

Prior to joining the Ministry, she led the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) since 2017 as President and CEO. Under her leadership, she increased the relevance of the organization, positioning WTTC as the global voice for the Travel & Tourism private sector. Guevara played a critical role in uniting and aligning over 200 CEOs in the global private sector to engage with more than 150 governments to share best practices and implement policies to reduce the impact during the worst crisis the sector has ever faced, COVID-19. For the first time, health and safety protocols were developed by the private sector and implemented by over 400 destinations through the Safe Travel stamp which provided certainty to travelers for a swifter recovery. Through the concerted effort of webinars, taskforces, government engagement, including the participation in the G20 under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, job losses were reduced from the 200 million forecast to 50 million globally.

Whilst at WTTC, Guevara created key initiatives focusing on sustainable tourism, seamless travel, and crisis readiness. With foresight, she launched the Crisis Readiness report in November 2019, ahead of COVID-19, and co-chaired the World Economic Forum’s pandemic preparedness in tourism initiative since 2016. She drove the industry’s climate and environmental agenda, building partnerships with UNFCCC & UNEP and presiding over the first global environment and climate forum. Guevara broke WTTC Global Summit records in 2019 in Seville, hosting Presidents Obama and Calderon, Prime Minister Sanchez, and other leaders; and again in 2021, following protocols, when she led the Global Summit in Cancun, the first major global post pandemic event.

In 2010, the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, appointed Guevara as Minister of Tourism, where she also oversaw the Mexican Tourism Board. Under her leadership the “National Agreement for Tourism” in Mexico was signed in 2011, which united the entire sector including federal, state, and local governments, congress, the private sector, and civil society to create the foundation to move Mexico to the top 5 countries globally. Her success was especially impressive given the challenges faced by tourism in Mexico from the impact of the H1N1 pandemic, the global financial crisis and security issues. In addition, during the Mexican presidency of the G20, Guevara led for the first time the inclusion of importance of Travel & Tourism in the G20 declaration of leaders in Los Cabos which gave her the recognition of G20 champion for the sector.

She received the Good Neighbour Award from the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and Virtuoso awarded Mexico the best tourism board. Guevara was also recognized as one of the most influential women in Mexico by CNN, Forbes, and Expansion.

Before being appointed in the government, she was CEO of JV Sabre Mexico reporting to a board of directors from Aeromexico, Mexicana, and Sabre Holdings. She started her career in the travel industry in 1995 at the Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Holdings, in different regions and capacities. Prior to joining the travel industry, she spent 8 years working in NCR Corporation.

Guevara currently sits on the boards of AMEX GBT (GBTG) and the Saudi Tourism Authority. She was previously on the boards of HSBC Mexico, Playa Hotels & Resorts (PLYA), CTS, and Palace Group.

In addition, Guevara was Special Advisor on Government Affairs to Harvard University’s School of Public Health, and part of the Future of Travel & Tourism Council of the World Economic Forum.

She holds a MBA from Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University and a BS in Computer Science from Anahuac University.