MarcoPolo700 Foundation appoints Global Ambassador

Alexander Rayner, Global Ambassador of MarcoPolo700 Foundation Limited

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, December 16, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The MarcoPolo700 Foundation has appointed Alexander Rayner as Global Ambassador to help amplify Marco Polo’s legacy by inspiring exploration, education, and cultural exchange.

Marco Polo (1254-1324) influenced global trade and inspired and encouraged curiosity about Asia and expanded Europe’s knowledge of the East. During his travels (1271–1295) he expanded his family’s trade network and establish relations with the Mongol Empire, especially Kublai Khan’s court in China. He sought to learn about distant lands, peoples, and customs, later documenting them for Europe in “The Travels of Marco Polo.”. He carried messages and gifts between the Pope and Kublai Khan, acting as an intermediary between East and West, and by recording what he saw, and he introduced Europeans to new products, like paper money, coal, silk, spices, and porcelain.

MarcoPolo700 Foundation Trustee, David Piesse remarked “We are pleased to appoint Alexander Rayner as Global Ambassador, an established professional with over 40 years of experience in the travel and tourism sector including with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UN Tourism), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), and in private sector entities across numerous segments of the visitor economy. Alex completed executive education programs in Artificial Intelligence, and Disruptive Innovation at the Harvard Business School, that will help to make MarcoPolo700 Foundation an AI First organisation, and to leverage the benefits of third wave AI and digital asset technology”.

David Piesse added “this has a special synergy to the recently established partnership with Durham University to develop a pioneering East-West Institute in Hong Kong. This is the first of its kind in the world, the Institute will bring the connected histories and cultures of East and West to a new generation in Hong Kong, Macau, and the rest of the Greater Bay Area, and will be supported by innovative AI and digital technologies.

Alexander Rayner said “I am delighted to be part of the team at MarcoPolo700 Foundation with the vision of “a world enriched by curiosity”. Curiosity connects us all beyond language, culture and borders and is an essential character of future leaders. Curiosity can be the key catalyst for inspiring exploration, education, and cultural exchange”.

This initiative will help drive tourism and trade in the countries along the Marco Polo Silk Road route, and support UNESCO World Heritage Sites in globally significant locations (natural or cultural) protected by an international treaty for their outstanding value to humanity.

ABOUT MarcoPolo700 Foundation
The MarcoPolo700 Foundation, is a UK charity established in 2023 on the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s passing, and is driven by the vision of a world enriched by curiosity, and mission to amplify Marco Polo’s legacy by inspiring exploration, education, and cultural exchange.

Programmes include an AI Digital Arts Competition that enables secondary school students to collaborate and to merge AI technology with human artistic expression.

For more information about the MarcoPolo700 Foundation, please visit www.marcopolo700.org or contact: contact@marcopolo700.org

David Piesse
MarcoPolo700 Foundation Limited
contact@marcopolo700.org
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