In honor of World Tourism Day, I am proud to share this article with you.
What is the World Tourism Organization?
With the acronym UNWTO, the World Tourism Organization is the United Nations agency who exist to promote responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. They are the leading international organization within the tourism industry.
The headquarters of the World Tourism Organization are in Madrid . The UNWTO actually dates back to 1925, in a roundabout way. In this year, the first international congress of official tourist organizations was held at The Hague. After annual meetings, they formed the International Union of Official Tourist Publicity Organizations known as IUOTPO. This was in 1934. A few years later, this was restructured to form the International Union of Official Travel Organizations (IUOTO).
In 1970, the IUOTO became the World Tourism Organization (WTO). This was in order to further enhance the group’s role on an international level. Only in 2003 did it become a specialized agency of the UN, known as UNWTO. Tourism is seen as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and over 100 countries have benefited from UNWTO’s worldwide leadership and support.
The World Tourism Organization has five official languages: Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
The structure of the World Tourism Organization
The structure of the UNWTO is as follows:
- The General Assembly, made up of full members and associate members, meet every two years to approve the budget, programme of work, and topics of vital importance. A secretary-general is elected every 4 years.
- The Executive Council, who meet every two years, is the governing board of the UNWTO who ensure the organization does what it sets out to do.
- There are also specialized committees, made up on UNWTO members. The committees advise on management and programme content.
- The secretariat, led by the secretary-general, implement the UNWTO’s programme of work.
What does the World Tourism Organization do?
Major aims of the World Tourism Organization
UNWTO has 158 member states from around the world. The organization encourages these member states to implement the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. There are 10 principles within this code, which each cover something different:
- Tourism’s contribution to mutual understanding and respect between peoples and societies.
- Tourism as a vehicle for individual and collective fulfilment.
- Tourism, a factor for sustainable development.
- Tourism, a user of the cultural heritage of mankind and contributor to its enhancement.
- Tourism, a beneficial activity for host countries and communities.
- Obligations of stakeholders in tourism development.
- Right to tourism.
- Liberty of tourist movements.
- Rights of the works and entrepreneurs in the tourism industry.
- Implementation of the principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.
Events
The World Tourism Organizations hosts a variety of global events, meetings and summits. These include talks and discussions on sustainability, conferences about accessibility, gender empowerment and digital tourism. Events are held around the world a few times per month.
Once a year, on September 27th, the World Tourism Organization facilities an event called World Tourism Day. This is a worldwide celebration of tourism, hosted in a particular country each year.The purpose of World Tourism Day is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value. It also seeks to address the global challenges outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and to highlight the contribution that the tourism industry can make towards reaching these goals. Every event has a different theme, such as promoting universal accessibility, or linking cultures.
In 2019, in line with UNWTO’s overarching focus on skills, education and jobs throughout the year, World Tourism Day will be a celebration on the topic : “Tourism and Jobs: a better future for all”.
Tourism’s role in job creation is often undervalued. This is despite the fact that tourism generates 10% of world jobs and is included in Sustainable Development Goal 8 for its potential to create decent work. New policies are needed to maximize tourism’s potential to create more and better jobs, especially for women and youth. New policies are also needed to reflect and incorporate ongoing advances in technology.
The 2019 official celebrations will take place in New Delhi, India.
INDIA
India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world with a kaleidoscopic
variety and rich cultural heritage. It covers an area of 32, 87,263 sq. km,
extending from the snow-covered Himalayan heights to the tropical rain forests
of the south. As the 7th largest country in the world, India stands apart from
the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea, which give the
country a distinct geographical entity. As you travel, India offers a range of
vast tourism choices, diverse in land and nature, people, tribes, cuisine,
faiths, dance forms, music, arts, crafts, adventure, sport, spirituality,
history; even these vary as you journey from one state to another.
DELHI
Delhi, the capital of India and one of the oldest cities of the world, is unlike any other city on the planet. It’s a place that not only touches your pulse but even fastens it to a frenetic speed. With a history that goes back many centuries & empires, Delhi showcases an ancient culture and a rapidly modernizing country. Centuries-old monuments are a part of the city’s daily life. An array of historical sites including the World Heritage Sites rest amongst several historical treasures in Delhi’s possession. Add to this the presence of diverse cultures, sprawling greenery, rich architecture and a famed cuisine, and Delhi becomes one of the undisputed highlights of the country.
Currency
The Indian rupee (sign: ₹; code: INR), is the official currency of the Republic of India. Major foreign currencies are exchangeable at banks. The currency comes in the denomination of 2000, 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10 and coins.
Time
The Standard Time is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of GMT.
Useful numbers
100 police, Fire 101, Ambulance 102
World Tourism Day 2019… Official messages
Official Message by the Secretary-General, UNWTO
Tourism can help us build a better future for everyone. Around the world, the tourism sector is leading source of employment, supporting many millions of jobs and driving economies forward, both at the local and the national level.
At the same time, it is a catalyst for equality and inclusivity. In many places, tourism employment gives women, young people and those living in rural communities the chance to support themselves and their families and to integrate more fully into wider society.
The true potential of tourism, both as a creator of jobs and as a driver of equality and sustainable development, is only just being realized. Providing decent work opportunities and contributing to developing professional skills are at the heart of this. Well managed, the continued growth of our sector will encompass countless opportunities and allow tourism to live up to its global social responsibility to leave no one behind.
Not one single economic, social or human activity prospers in isolation. For this reason, governments and stakeholders from the public and private sectors are increasingly working together to manage tourism in a responsible and sustainable manner and to ensure its enormous potential is properly realized.
Just as new technology is changing the way we travel, so too is it changing the way we work. Tourism is leading the way in providing workers with the skills and knowledge they need for the jobs of tomorrow. Embracing this creative spirit, including through effective collaboration with partners in the technology sector and in academia, will drive the creation of more and better jobs.
As we celebrate World Tourism Day, let us recognize the transformative power of tourism. Together, we can realize tourism’s potential to build a better, more equal future.
Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (IC) for Tourism & Culture, Government of India
India is pleased to host the official celebrations of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) World Tourism Day in New Delhi. The theme of this year’s World Tourism Day “Tourism and Jobs: A better Future for All” is highly appropriate as tourism is extremely labor intensive and significant source of employment for many global economies. Tourism is one such activity which extends to various other sectors and thus is responsible for creating direct and indirect employment requiring varying degrees of skills and allows for quick entry into the workforce for youth, women and poor. The tourism sector therefore is not only an engine for economic growth but also an effective tool for poverty alleviation among the marginalized segments of the society.
We believe that development of tourism is directly linked with community development. We want the local population to benefit by the development of tourism in their region and for this we should focus on development of soft skills among the locals.
In the process of job creation, let us ensure that our strategies for development of tourism are not in conflict with the environment and have minimal negative impact. When we talk about sustainability we should not only talk about conservation of resources but also our culture and heritage, which we have adopted in India through our Sustainable Tourism Criteria.
On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, I would like to express my gratitude to UNWTO for choosing India as the host for this year’s World Tourism Day I am hopeful that together with the experts from tourism field, we will be able to highlight the challenges and opportunities of employment in Tourism sector and find solutions to the issues of employments in Tourism.
I look forward to receiving you in New Delhi!
Join the celebration: #WTD2019
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Source : world tourism organization
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