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UN Tourism

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Not to be confused withWorld Trade Organization.

UN Tourism
AbbreviationUN Tourism
Formation1 November 1975(48 years ago)(1975-11-01)
TypeUnited Nations specialized agency
Legal statusActive
HeadquartersMadrid,Spain
Membership
160 Member States[1]
Secretary-General
Zurab Pololikashvili
Parent organization
United Nations
Websitewww.unwto.org
iconPolitics portal

UN Tourism(UNWTOuntil 2023) is aspecialized agencyof theUnited Nationswhich promotes responsible, sustainable and universally-accessibletourism.Its headquarters are inMadrid,Spain. Other offices include: a Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific inNara,Japan[2]and a Regional Office for the Middle East in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

UN Tourism serves as a global forum for tourism policy and a source of tourism research and knowledge. It encourages tourism competitiveness, innovation, education, investments and digital transformation. The organization also focusses on ethics, culture and social responsibility related to tourism, provides technical cooperation and includes a UN Tourism Academy and statistics work.[3]

The six official languages of UN Tourism are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Before the outbreak of theCOVID-19 pandemic,tourism stood at an all-time high: 1 out of 10 jobs worldwide depended on tourism and international tourist arrivals reached 1.5 billion in 2019. Against a backdrop of heightened uncertainty, UN Tourism conveyed the Global Tourism Crisis Committee to guide the tourism sector as it faced up to the COVID-19 challenge.

From its inception in 1975 until 2023, UN Tourism was called the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).[4]

Members[edit]

UNWTO Tourism Regions

UN Tourism has 160 Member States,[5][6][7]six associate members (Aruba, Flanders, Hong Kong, Macao, Madeira and Puerto Rico),[8]and two observers (Holy See(1979), Palestine (1999)).

Nonmembers are:Australia,Belgium,Belize,Canada,Denmark,Dominica,Estonia,Finland,Grenada,Guyana,Iceland,Ireland,Kiribati,Latvia,Liechtenstein,Luxembourg,theMarshall Islands,Micronesia,Nauru,New Zealand,Saint Kitts and Nevis,Saint Lucia,Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,Singapore,Solomon Islands,Somalia,South Sudan,Suriname,Sweden,Tonga,Tuvalu,theUnited Kingdomand theUnited States.Seventeen state members have withdrawn from the organization for different periods in the past includingAustralia(citing poor value for money),Bahamas,Bahrain,Belgium,Canada(Canada withdrew from the World Tourism Organization when it appointedRobert Mugabeas a leader in 2013),Costa Rica,El Salvador,Grenada,Honduras,Kuwait,Latvia,Malaysia,Myanmar,Panama,Philippines,Qatar,Thailand,United KingdomandPuerto Rico(as an associate member).[citation needed]TheNetherlands Antilleswas an associate member beforeits dissolution.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) rejoined the organization in May 2013, 26 years after having left UN Tourism.[9]

Additionally, UN Tourism has over 500 affiliate members, including non-governmental entities with specialised interests in tourism, and commercial and non-commercial bodies and associations with activities related to the aims of UN Tourism or falling within its competence.

On 2 April 2022, Russia announced it would leave UN Tourism, and the organization subsequently voted the same day to suspend Russia in response to theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[10]

Secretaries-General[edit]

Name Years of Tenure
FranceRobert Lonati 1975–1985
AustriaWillibald Pahr 1986–1989
MexicoAntonio Enriquez Savignac 1990–1996
FranceFrancesco Frangialli 1997–2009
JordanTaleb Rifai 2010–2017
Georgia (country)Zurab Pololikashvili[11] 2018–

As host country of UN Tourism'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.[12]

Publications[edit]

  • UNWTO Annual Report
  • UN Tourism World Tourism Barometer
  • UNWTO Declarations
  • Knowledge Network Issues Paper Series

Tourism Data Dashboard[edit]

UN Tourism releases its Tourism Data Dashboard which "provides statistics and insights on key indicators for inbound and outbound tourism at the global, regional and national levels. Data covers tourist arrivals, tourism share of exports and contribution to GDP, source markets, seasonality and accommodation (data on number of rooms, guest and nights)."[13]

Visa Openness Report[edit]

UN Tourism research concluded that, by improving visa processes and entry formalities, G20 economies could boost their international tourist numbers by 122 million, tourism exports by US$2016 billion and employment by 5 million.[14]

The Organization's latest UN Tourism Visa Openness Report, published in 2016, shows the highest ever percentage of international tourists not requiring a visa to travel - 39% compared with 23% in 2008.[15]The report concluded that the 30 countries whose citizens were least affected by visa restrictions in 2015 were (based on the data compiled by the UN Tourism, based on information from national official institutions):[16]

Least restricted citizens
Rank Country Mobility index (out of 215 with no visa weighted by 1, visa on arrival weighted by 0.7, eVisa by 0.5 and traditional visa weighted by 0)
1 Denmark,Finland,Germany,Italy,Luxembourg,Singapore,United Kingdom 160
8 France,JapanNetherlands,South Korea,Sweden,United States 159
14 Belgium,Canada,Ireland,Norway,Portugal,Spain,Switzerland 158
21 Austria,Greece,Malta 157
24 Czech Republic,New Zealand 156
26 Hungary,Iceland,Malaysia 155
29 Australia,Slovakia 154

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Member States".www.unwto.org.Retrieved7 April2024.
  2. ^"UNWTO Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific".Retrieved10 January2024.
  3. ^"Home | UNWTO".www.unwto.org.Retrieved5 November2020.
  4. ^"UNWTO Becomes" UN Tourism "to Mark A New Era for Global Sector".UN Tourism. 23 January 2024.Retrieved17 February2024.
  5. ^"Who we are | World Tourism Organization UNWTO".
  6. ^"Member States".Retrieved20 January2016.
  7. ^"Spanish Visa Experts".Retrieved5 October2023.
  8. ^territories or groups of territories not responsible for their external relations but whose membership is approved by the state assuming responsibility for their external relations.
  9. ^"The United Arab Emirates joins the World Tourism Organization".World Tourism Organization UNWTO.8 May 2013. Archived fromthe originalon 15 March 2018.
  10. ^Pons, Corina; Khalip, Andrei (27 April 2022)."UN tourism body chief says Russia quitting the organization".Regina Leader Post.Reuters.Archivedfrom the original on 4 April 2024.
  11. ^"UNWTO Executive Council recommends Zurab Pololikashvili for Secretary-General for the period 2018-2021".World Tourism Organization UNWTO.12 May 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 8 August 2019.
  12. ^"Executive Council".World Tourism Organization UNWTO.Archived fromthe originalon 5 February 2016.Retrieved20 January2016.
  13. ^"The UN Tourism Data Dashboard".UNWTO.Archivedfrom the original on 25 October 2023.
  14. ^The Impact of Visa Facilitation on Job Creation in the G20 Economies: Report prepared for the 4th T20 Ministers' Meeting, Mexico, 15–16 May 2012.UNWTO and WTTC. 2012.doi:10.18111/9789284414727.ISBN9789284414727.
  15. ^Visa openness report 2015.2016.doi:10.18111/9789284417384.ISBN9789284417384.
  16. ^"Visa Openness Report 2016"(PDF).World Tourism Organization. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 23 January 2016.Retrieved17 January2016.

Further reading[edit]

  • Jafari, J. (1974). Creation of the intergovernmental world tourism organization. Annals of Tourism Research, 2, (5), 237–245.
  • United Nations General Assembly. (1969). General assembly – twenty fourth session.
  • United Nations World Tourism Organization. (2007). About UNWTO.
  • World Tourism Organization. (2003). WTO news, 2003 (3). Madrid: World Tourism Organization.
  • "World Tourism Organization changes its abbreviation to UNWTO".UNWTO Press and Communications. 1 December 2005.Retrieved4 March2008.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toUNWTO.
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