WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION

(UNWTO)
HRM 57 WORLD TOURISM
 BACKGROUND

• The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations

agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable
and universally accessible tourism.

• As the leading international organization in the field of tourism,

UNWTO promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth,
inclusive development and environmental sustainability and
offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing
knowledge and tourism policies worldwide. 
 BACKGROUND

• UNWTO encourages the implementation of the Global Code of

Ethics for Tourism, to maximize tourism’s socio-economic
contribution while minimizing its possible negative impacts, and
is committed to promoting tourism as an instrument in achieving
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), geared towards
reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development
worldwide.
 BACKGROUND
• UNWTO generates market knowledge, promotes competitive
and sustainable tourism policies and instruments, fosters
tourism education and training, and works to make tourism an
effective tool for development through technical assistance
projects in over 100 countries around the world. 

• UNWTO’s membership includes 158 countries, 6 Associate

Members and over 500 Affiliate Members representing the
private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and
local tourism authorities.
 UNWTO PRIORITIES

• Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of

tourism as a driver of socioeconomic growth and development, its
inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the
need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and
prosper. 

• Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UNWTO Members’

competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human
resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such
as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism
development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk
and crisis management. 
 UNWTO PRIORITIES

• Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting

sustainable tourism policies and practices which make optimal
use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural
authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic
benefits for all.

• Advancing tourism’s contribution to poverty reduction and

development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty
reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a
tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in
the development agenda. 
 UNWTO PRIORITIES

• Fostering knowledge, education and capacity

building: Supporting countries to assess and address their
needs in education and training, as well as providing networks
for knowledge creation and exchange. 

• Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional

and local tourism organizations, academia and research
institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more
sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector. 
 HISTORY

• The origin of the World Tourism Organization stems back to

1925 when the International Congress of Official Tourist Traffic
Associations (ICOTT) was formed at The Hague.

• Some articles from early volumes of the Annals of Tourism

Research, claim that the UNWTO originated from the
International Union of Official Tourist Publicity Organizations
(IUOTPO), although the UNWTO states that the ICOTT became
the International Union of Official Tourist Publicity Organizations
first in 1934.
 HISTORY
• Following the end of the Second World War and with international
travel numbers increasing, the IUOTPO restructured itself into the
International Union of Official Travel Organizations (IUOTO).
• A technical, non-governmental organization, the IUOTO was made
up of a combination of national tourist organizations, industry and
consumer groups.
• The goals and objectives of the IUOTO were to not only promote
tourism in general but also to extract the best out of tourism as an
international trade component and as an economic development
strategy for developing nations
 HISTORY
• Towards the end of the 1960s, the IUOTO realized the need for further
transformation to enhance its role on an international level.
• The 20th IUOTO general assembly in Tokyo, 1967, declared the need for the
creation of an intergovernmental body with the necessary abilities to function on
an international level in cooperation with other international agencies, in particular
the United Nations.
• Throughout the existence of the IUOTO, close ties had been established between
the organization and the United Nations (UN) and initial suggestions had the
IUOTO becoming part of the UN.
• However, following the circulation of a draft convention, consensus held that any
resultant intergovernmental organization should be closely linked to the UN but
preserve its "complete administrative and financial autonomy"
 HISTORY
• In 1970, the IUOTO general assembly voted in favor of forming the
World Tourism Organization (WTO), based on statutes of the IUOTO,
and after ratification by the prescribed 51 states, the WTO came into
operation on November 1, 1974.

• At the fifteenth general assembly in 2003, the WTO general council

and the UN agreed to establish the WTO as a specialized agency of
the UN. The significance of this collaboration, WTO Secretary-
General Mr. Francesco Frangialli claimed, would lie in "the increased
visibility it gives the WTO, and the recognition that will be accorded to
[it].Tourism will be considered on an equal footing with other major
activities of human society"
 STRUCTURE
• General Assembly
• The General Assembly is the principal gathering of the World
Tourism Organization. It meets every two years to approve the
budget and programme of work and to debate topics of vital
importance to the tourism sector. Every four years it elects a
Secretary-General. The General Assembly is composed of Full
Members and Associate Members. Affiliate Members and
representatives of other international organizations participate as
observers.
• The World Committee on Tourism Ethics is a subsidiary organ of the
General Assembly.
 STRUCTURE

• Regional Commissions
• UNWTO has six regional commissions-Africa, the Americas,
East Asia and the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and
South Asia. The commissions meet at least once a year and
are composed of all the Full Members and Associate
Members from that region. Affiliate Members from the region
participate as observers.
 STRUCTURE
• Executive Council
• The Executive Council is UNWTO's governing board,
responsible for ensuring that the Organization carries out its
work and adheres to its budget. It meets at least twice a year
and is composed by Members elected by the General
Assembly in a ratio of one for every five Full Members. As
host country of UNWTO´s Headquarters, Spain has a
permanent seat on the Executive Council. Representatives
of the Associate Members and Affiliate Members participate
in Executive Council meetings as observers.
 STRUCTURE
• Committees

• Specialized committees of UNWTO Members advise on

management and programme content. These include: the
Programme and Budget Committee, the Committee on
Statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account, the Committee
on Tourism and Competitiveness, the Committee on Tourism
and Sustainability, the World Committee on Tourism Ethics
and the Committee for the Review of Applications for Affiliate
Membership.
 STRUCTURE
• Secretariat
• The Secretariat is led by Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili from
Georgia, who supervises about 110 full-time staff at UNWTO's Madrid
Headquarters. These officials are responsible for implementing
UNWTO's programme of work and serving the needs of Members.
The Affiliate Members are supported by a full-time Executive Director
at the Madrid Headquarters. The Secretariat also includes a regional
support office for Asia-Pacific in Nara, Japan, financed by the
Japanese Government.
• The official languages of UNWTO are Arabic, English, French,
Russian and Spanish.
 UNWTO SECRETARY-GENERAL

• 1975–1985 — Robert Lonati (France)

• 1986–1989 — Willibald Pahr (Austria)
• 1990–1996 — Antonio Enriquez Savignac (Mexico)
• 1998–2009 — Francesco Frangialli (France)
• 2010–2017 — Taleb Rifai (Jordan)
UNWTO SECRETARY-GENERAL

•• He was Ambassador
Zurab Pololikashvili is
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Secretary-General of the
of Georgia to the Kingdom of
Worldthe
Spain, Tourism
Principality of Andorra,
Organization
the (UNWTO)
People’s Democratic Republic
since
of 1 January
Algeria 2018 after
and the Kingdom of
Morocco and Permanent
being elected by the 22nd
Representative of Georgia to the
Session of UNWTO
World Tourism Organization
General Assembly.
(UNWTO) up to December 2017.
 UNWTO SECRETARY-GENERAL

"As we move towards a future guided by the universal 17

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), I take upon me to lead
UNWTO with a strong focus on building partnerships, fostering jobs
and opportunities for all, mastering technology and innovation and
advancing sustainability and the fight against climate change."
Zurab Pololikashvili