11 August 2020

Visitors Services in New York is pleased to launch our tours and briefings, which offer an educational online experience to a wide audience, both locally and abroad.

By taking the one-hour virtual tour with one of the multilingual UN tour guides, participants will go on a live journey through the Organization’s history. Tours focus on the current work of the principal organs, teaching how the UN addresses issues such as disarmament, peace and security, development, and human rights.?

"A very educationally enriching experience"

Through this interactive experience, the online visitors will also be able to admire the famous General Assembly Hall and the Security Council Chamber, as well as some of the works of art at UN Headquarters.?

The virtual tours can be combined with a briefing by an expert speaker on a UN-related topic, such as peacekeeping, gender equality, or access to water and sanitation.

“Through its rich visual and substantive virtual tour, students and faculty [of our programme] were able to tour the United Nations,” said?Dr. Danielle Zach, Lead Instructor, School of the New York Times Summer Academy.

“The tour guides brought the UN to our classroom by communicating the global reach of the world body’s work and showing the connections through photographs and engaging examples concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, education, and climate change,” she said. “Although incomparable to an in-person UN visit, the virtual tour was a very educationally enriching experience”??

Tours in many languages and topics?

The United Nations Visitors Services virtual offerings can now be booked directly online at?.?

Tours are being offered for groups and the multilingual staff is now preparing to offer virtual UN tours in 12 other languages, as well as thematic tours focused on Black History & the UN, Women & the UN, the Asia-Pacific Region, and UN Architecture.

“What I really enjoy is having the opportunity to virtually ‘meet’ and engage with people from all over the world while staying at home,” says tour guide Emily Jiang. “The chance to help create online experiences has been a productive use of my time and a chance to learn new skills.”

Take a free virtual tour

UN staff members are invited to take a UN Virtual Tour free of charge on the second Friday of every month at 11:00 am.??

To register for the?next UN Staff Virtual Tour, on 14 August, please fill out this??and submit it before 10:00 am on the day of the tour.?You will receive a calendar invitation with a Microsoft Teams link to join the tour.