Organizational Aims

United Nations World Tourism Organization plays a role in promoting the development of responsible, ‎sustainable and universally accessible tourism, paying particular attention to the ‎interests of developing countries‎.

The Organization encourages the implementation ‎of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, with a view to ensuring that member ‎countries, tourist destinations and businesses maximize the positive economic, ‎social and cultural effects of tourism and fully reap its benefits, while minimizing its ‎negative social and environmental impacts.

UNWTO is committed to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, geared ‎toward reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development.

History

The origin of the United Nation World Tourism Organization stems back to 1925 when the International Congress of Official Tourist Traffic Associations (ICOTT) was formed at The Hague. In 1934 the ICOTT became the International Union of Official Tourist Propaganda Organizations (IUOTPO). 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.

Towards the end of the 1960’s, the IUOTO realized the need for further transformation to enhance its role on an international level in cooperation with other international agencies, in particular the United Nations.

In 1970, the IUOTO general assembly voted in favor of forming the World Tourism Organization (WTO), based on statutes of the IUOTO, and the WTO came into operation on November 1, 1974. Most recently, 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.

As of 2007, its membership included 150 countries, seven territories and some 350 affiliate members, representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities. The frequent confusion between the two WTOs – World Tourism Organization and the Geneva-based World Trade Organization – officially ended on 1 December 2005, when the General Assembly approved to add the letters UN (for United Nations) to the start of abbreviation of the leading international tourism body in English and in Russian. UNWTO abbreviation remains OMT in French and Spanish.

Secretary-Generals of unwto

‎1975-1985 Robert Lonati (France)

‎‎1986-1989 Willibald Pahr (Austria)

1990-1996 Antonio Enriquez Savignac (Mexico)

1998-2008 Francesco Frangialli (France)

2008- Taleb Rifai S.G ad interim (Jordan)

Structure

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. Its ordinary ‎sessions, held every two years, are attended by delegates of the Full and Associate ‎Members, as well as representatives from the Business Council.‎ It is the most important meeting of senior tourism officials and high-level ‎representatives of the private sector from all over the world. ‎

Regional Commissions ‎

‎ Established in 1975 as subsidiary organs of the General Assembly, the six Regional ‎Commissions normally meet once a year. They enable member States to maintain ‎contact with one another and with the Secretariat between sessions of the General ‎Assembly, to which they submit their proposals and convey their concerns. Each ‎Commission elects one Chairman and its Vice-Chairmen from among its Members ‎for a term of two years commencing from one session to the next session of the ‎Assembly.‎‎

Executive Council ‎

‎The Executive Council's task is to take all necessary measures, in consultation with ‎the Secretary-General, for the implementation of its own decisions and ‎recommendations of the Assembly and report thereon to the Assembly.‎ The Council meets at least twice a year.‎ ‎The Council consists of Full Members elected by the Assembly in the proportion of ‎one Member for every five Full Members, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure ‎laid down by the Assembly with a view to achieving fair and equitable geographical ‎distribution.‎ The term of office of Members elected to the Council is four years and elections for ‎one-half of the Council membership are held every two years. Spain is a Permanent ‎Member of the Executive Council.‎

Committees ‎

• ‎World Committee on Tourism;

• Ethics ‎Program Committee;

• ‎Committee on Budget and Finance;

• ‎Committee on Market and Competitiveness;

• Committee on Statistics and the Tourism Satellite account;

• Sustainable Development of Tourism Committee;

• Committee on Poverty;

• Reduction Committee for the Review of Applications for Affiliate Membership.

Secretariat

The Secretariat is led by Secretary-General ad interim Taleb Rifai of Jordan, who ‎supervises about 110 full-time staff at UNWTO's Madrid Headquarters. He is assisted ‎by the Deputy Secretary-General. These officials are responsible ‎for implementing UNWTO's program 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 Osaka, Japan, ‎financed by the Japanese Government.