| About |
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| the World Tourism Organization |
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The World Tourism Organization is the leading international organization
in the field of travel and tourism. It serves as a global forum for
tourism policy issues and a practical source of tourism know-how. WTO's
membership includes 144 countries and territories and more than 350
Affiliate Members representing local government, education and research
institutes, tourism associations and private sector companies, including
airlines, hotel groups and tour operators.
With its headquarters in Madrid, Spain WTO is an inter-governmental
body entrusted by the United Nations towards the promotion and development
of tourism. Through tourism, WTO aims to stimulate economic growth and
job creation, provide incentives for protecting the environment and
heritage of destinations, and promote peace and understanding among
all the nations of the world.
WTO Activities
Regional Representations and Programme Activity Sections of WTO work
in the various fields of tourism. The knowledge and information generated
are disseminated through publications, conferences, seminars, workshops
and other meetings, as well as the WTO website.
Cooperation for Development
Acting on requests from Member Governments, WTO secures financing, locates
the world's leading experts, and carries out all types of tourism development
projects of small and large scales. The Organization was also designated
as the official executing agency for UNDP-funded tourism development
plans and projects.
Statistics and Market Research
WTO is the world's most complete and reliable source of global and regional
tourism statistics, economic analysis, market trends and forecasts.
WTO sets international standards for tourism measurement and reporting,
including the development and testing of the Tourism Satellite Account
System to allow a more accurate measurement of the economic impacts
of tourism in national economies.
Human Resources Development
In cooperation with its network of Education and Training Centres throughout
the world, WTO sets global standards for tourism education. The TEDQUAL
(Tourism Education Quality) methodology, developed by WTO, helps member
governments and tourism enterprises assess their needs and create tourism
education and training programmes. Another regular task of the Section
is the organization of practicum courses for tourism officials of member
countries.
Quality of Tourism Development
Liberalization, health and safety reflect the broad and inter-connected
range of issues related to improving the quality of tourism services.
WTO is working towards the removal of barriers to tourism and is encouraging
the liberalization of trade in tourism services, meanwhile respecting
the principles of sustainable development. Major projects in this field
are the Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism, approved by the UN, and
the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation
in Travel and Tourism.
Communications, Publication and Documentation
The Communications Section acts as a contact point and coordinator for
press and media purposes. WTO has its own Publications Unit, its Documentation
Centre houses a wide range of tourism research and information sources.
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Sustainable Development
of Tourism
In WTO's effort of generating know-how and disseminating information
among its members and the international tourism community, the issues
of sustainable development represent a high priority and its principles
are applied in every WTO project. WTO's Sustainable Development of Tourism
Section is involved in the following fields of activities and projects:
World Summit on Sustainable Development: WTO was present at
the 1992 Rio Summit. It is one of the authors of the Agenda 21 for the
Travel and Tourism Sector (published in 1995), which is currently being
revised for a new edition. WTO has been actively involved for the preparation
of the Johannesburg (Rio+10) Summit by producing a number of evaluation
reports and organizing a side event that will be held on the topic "Poverty
Eradication and Tourism".
Planning for sustainable development of tourism: WTO has published
various manuals for tourism planning at the national, regional and local
levels, as well as organized a series of national seminars for local
authorities in developing countries.
Indicators of sustainable tourism: As fundamental tools for
the planning and monitoring of tourism development, WTO has been involved
in this topic since 1992, conducting pilot studies, producing a manual
and organizing a series of regional technical workshops for the identification
and application of sustainability indicators of tourism.
Sustainable tourism at specific destinations: WTO has organized
international and regional meetings, developed guidelines and practical
methodology for the sustainable development and management of coastal,
rural, and urban destinations, cultural and natural heritage sites.
A series of special activities has been developed for assisting Small
Island Developing States and other island destinations.
Voluntary initiatives for sustainable tourism: as certification
systems, ecolabels, awards, self-commitments and other forms of voluntary
regulation have gained increasing popularity and importance, WTO has
conducted a world wide inventory and analysis of these initiatives,
with the publication already available. Based on this study, the Organization
supports a feasibility study on the establishment of a global accreditation
body.
International Year of Ecotourism, 2002: This has been a major
task of the Section to develop a wide range of activities at different
levels, in the framework of this Year:
- Support of national activities undertaken in Member States
- Organization of 10 regional preparatory conferences, where more than
2200 stakeholders participated form different sectors and around 200
case studies were presented
- Facilitation, jointly with UNEP, of an ecotourism web-conference where
nearly 1000 persons participated from 88 countries
- Co-organization of the World Ecotourism Summit
Preparation of technical publications on ecotourism:
- Sustainable Development of Ecotourism: A Compilation of Good Practices,
containing 55 case studies from 39 countries, presented in a systematic
manner
- Ecotourism Market Study Series, quantitative and qualitative analysis
of seven ecotourism generating markets in North America and Europe (Canada,
France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States
of America)
- Guidelines for the Sustainable Development and Management of Tourism
in National Parks and Protected Areas (revised edition, jointly with
UNEP/WTO/IUCN)
Detailed information can be obtained on the above activities and documents
in the WTO website:
http://www.world-tourism.org
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The World
Tourism Organization and the International Year of Ecotourism
The International Year of Ecotourism demonstrates the United Nations'
recognition of ecotourism's social and economic importance. The UN General
Assembly wished to draw the attention of governments, and the international
community, to the potential impacts (both positive and negative) of
ecotourism on the natural environment, biodiversity conservation, and
the social and cultural fabric of host communities. The World Tourism
Organization (WTO) is coordinating a series of activities - leading
up to and during the IYE - with UNEP and other international and regional
organizations, as well as its Member States, Affiliate Members and other
groups.
The ecotourism concept was adopted comparatively recently and is subject
to various interpretations, some more accurate than others. On the occasion
of the IYE, WTO and other collaborating parties have agreed that the
ecotourism concept reflects "all forms of tourism in which the
tourists' main motivation is the observation and appreciation of nature,
that contribute to the conservation of, and that generate minimal impacts
upon, the natural environment and the cultural heritage."
IYE will further efforts towards a generally acceptable interpretation
of the term "ecotourism" and its more rigorous commercial
application. Ecotourism operations should minimize negative impacts
on the natural and socio-cultural environment and contribute to the
conservation of natural areas by:
- generating economic benefits for host communities, organizations,
and authorities managing natural areas for conservation purposes;
- providing alternative income opportunities for local communities;
and
- increasing awareness of natural and cultural assets among local people
and tourists.
As a market segment, ecotourism can be distinguished by tourists' motivations
and the types of destinations and attractions that attract these visitors.
It is a form of nature-based tourism and, as manifestations of traditional
cultures are often found in areas visited by ecotourists, it is associated
with cultural tourism.
While sustainability needs to be encouraged in all segments of the
tourism industry, it is a much stronger imperative in the case of ecotourism.
Nonetheless, unsustainable ecotourism is practiced throughout the world.
They threaten the survival of the natural environment that is the basis
of nature-based tourism, and they can undermine and can even discredit
this type of travel.
The International Year of Ecotourism presents opportunities and challenges
for the international community.
WTO has defined the following objectives for the Year:
- to generate greater awareness among public authorities, the private
sector, civil society and consumers regarding ecotourism's capacity
to improve conservation of the natural and cultural heritage and local
communities' standards of living, as well as to encourage respect for
nature, indigenous cultures and their diversity;
- to disseminate methods and techniques for ecotourism planning, management,
regulation and monitoring to ensure its long-term sustainability.
- to promote exchanges of experience with ecotourism;
- to increase opportunities for efficient marketing and promotion of
ecotourism destinations and products;
- to promote minimum quality standards, as well as trustworthy and comparable
certification systems for ecotourism suppliers;
Activities to Achieve IYE Objectives
To achieve these objectives, WTO has undertaken a number of activities
at different levels since early 2001:
It has recommended that Member States create local and national multi-stakeholder
ecotourism committees. These would continue to exist after the IYE,
coordinating and monitoring ecotourism activities in each country. Forty-one
Member States have responded positively to this recommendation, other
countries are initiating national ecotourism fora or local ecotourism
development activities within the framework of the IYE.
Regional WTO conferences have been successfully organized to exchange
experiences, examine problems, promote cooperation nationally and internationally,
and identify future challenges. Regional preparatory meetings have already
been held in Mozambique for Africa, in Brazil for the Americas, in Kazakhstan
for CIS countries, in Austria for Europe, in Greece for Mediterranean
Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, in the Seychelles for island
destinations, in Algeria for countries with desert areas. Further meetings
are scheduled in the Maldives for the Asia-Pacific region, in Moscow
for Russia and neighbouring countries and in Fiji for South Pacific
islands. Over 2200 stakeholders, representing public sector tourism
and environmental authorities, non-governmental organizations, ecotourism
businesses, academic institutions and independent experts, have participated
so far in these preparatory meetings, where some 200 case studies have
been presented. WTO also organized, jointly with UNEP, a Web-Conference
on Sustainable Development of Ecotourism during April 2002, in which
nearly 1000 persons from 88 countries participated.
World Ecotourism Summit in Quebec, Canada, May 2002: The conclusions
and recommendations of these and other official preparatory conferences
were submitted to the Summit, which is expected to be the largest ever
gathering of all stakeholders involved in or impacted by ecotourism.
Tourism and Trade Fairs:
- Reisepavillon (Hannover, January 2002): WTO, jointly with the
German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) convened the Forum International
with the participation of public authorities, ecotourism companies and
experts. WTO and GTZ subsidised the participation of more than 50 small
suppliers of ecotourism from 20 developing countries.
- FITUR (Madrid, February 2002): WTO is organizing a special
Session on Ecotourism for Latin America
- International Adventure Travel and Outdoor Sports Exhibition
(Chicago, February 2002): WTO is supporting the event and will deliver
a presentation at an ecotourism conference.
- ITB International Tourism Fair (Berlin, March 2002): WTO is
supporting and participating at "Sustainable Travel Exchange -
Travel with Sense" exhibition of ITB
Special WTO publications for the IYE:
- Compilation of Good Practices in the Sustainable Development of
Ecotourism: 55 case studies from 39 countries, presented in a systematic
form
- Ecotourism Market Study Series: seven pioneer country reports
on the main European and North American ecotourism generating markets
(Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, USA)
- Guidelines for the Sustainable Development and Management of Tourism
in National Parks and Protected Areas (revised edition, jointly
with UNEP/WTO/IUCN)
A special page has been created on the WTO website for IYE related
activities:
http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/IYE-Main-Menu.htm
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Contact:
World Tourism Organization
Sustainable Development of Tourism Section
Capitan Haya, 42
28020 Madrid - Spain
Tel: (34) 91 567 8100
Fax: (34) 91 571 3733
Email: env@world-tourism.org
http://www.world-tourism.org
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