PR No.: PR14026

International tourism in Europe continues to grow above expectations and despite the region's on-going economic constrains. In 2013, international tourist arrivals grew by 5%, an additional 29 million as compared to 2012, raising the total to 563 million, more than half of the world's total.

"Despite a fragile global economic recovery, particularly in the Eurozone, Europe continues to excel", said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, addressing the Meeting. "Many reasons are behind such positive performance, particularly growing collaboration and innovation, issues which are fundamental for Europe to ensure tourism continues to play a central role in the region's economic growth and job creation", he added.

"The international tourism policy agenda can only be effectively developed via intensive and international cooperation among tourism stakeholders", said Abulfas Garayev, Minister of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan. "The development of international tourism products, the worldwide promotion of open skies policies, the facilitation of international investments in tourism and the harmonisation of tourism standards and legislation around the globe are just some examples of the vast tourism agenda requiring continuous support from, and interaction between, national governments."

The main short-term challenges and priorities for European Tourism identified by UNWTO Member States include travel facilitation, connectivity, taxation, clustering and private-public partnerships, and the creation of favorable business environments to stimulate investment and innovation.

These policy priorities set the immediate tourism roadmap for Europe. The Commission concluded that as global tourism becomes increasingly competitive, Europe must take the lead on key issues such as innovation, accessible and inclusive tourism, and new models of cooperation that effectively bring together the diverse stakeholders involved in delivering tourism experiences.

The Seminar on Developing Effective Tourism Clusters, which preceded the Commission deliberations, underscored the need for tourism policy to contemplate the sector's fragmented nature and act to promote tourism clusters. The recently launched UNWTO project 'Madrid Precious Time' was presented as an example of innovative collaboration in stimulating new tourism products. Several examples of prominent clusters from UNWTO Member States such as Cyprus, France, Hungary, Norway and Romania were also presented.

Useful links:

Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Europe

Madrid Precious Time

 

Contacts:

Senior Media Officer: Marcelo Risi

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60

 

UNWTO Communications and Publications Programme

Tel: +34 91-567-8100 / Fax: +34 91-567-8218

PR No.: PR14025

UNWTO has been long advocating for the need to review the current APD scheme. The existing band scheme, according to which values to be paid by travellers are calculated according to the distance between London and the destination country’s capital city, has made long distance flying out of the UK significantly more expensive. This has created significant barriers for tourism development in long-haul destinations which depend mainly on air travel while curbing UK’s tourism competitiveness in emerging markets.

“While taxes are a fundamental fiscal tool, there is a growing concern regarding a proliferation of levies on travel and tourism which produce market distortions and act as trade barriers, hampering fair competition between destinations” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. “UNWTO, alongside partners such as WTTC, IATA, CTO and PATA, has been long advocating for the revision of the APD. This measure is very welcome news and we trust the UK economy as well as the economies of destinations with strong links to the UK will all benefit from this decision”, he added.

The UK’s announcement to review the APD follows similar reforms taken by countries such as the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and Australia. Australia has recently frozen the Passenger Movement Charge (PMC).

 

Note to editors:

CTO: Caribbean Tourism Organization

IATA: International Air Transport Association

PATA: Pacific Asia Travel Association

WTTC: World Travel and Tourism Council

 

Contacts:

UNWTO Senior Media Officer: Marcelo Risi

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 
 

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218

"The new year greeted us with very encouraging news for the tourism sector.

Despite the lingering challenges of the world economy, affecting namely Europe, despite geopolitical shifts, and even beyond UNWTO’s initial expectations, international tourism grew by a surprising 5% in 2013.

With an additional 52 million tourists travelling the world, the total number of international tourists reached in 2013 a staggering 1,087 million. Meaning, more than one billion people visited another country, either for business or leisure, in 2013.

What is more, much of tourism´s growth last year was boosted by the strong performance of Europe, where international tourist arrivals were up by a solid 5%. In Southern European countries, such as Spain, tourism has been steadily expanding over the years, in spite of the economic constraints in the Eurozone."

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PR No.: PR14023

Accessible Tourism for All defines the appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, transportation, information and communications and facilities open to the public or for public use.

In recognition of the importance of accessibility in tourism, UNWTO and the Government of the Republic of San Marino will jointly organize the 1^st UNWTO European Conference on Accessible Tourism, scheduled to be held in San Marino on 19 November 2014. The Conference will be addressing how to maintain and develop quality, sustainability and competitiveness in accessible tourism.

In signing the agreement at the side-lines of ITB Berlin with Teodoro Lonfernini, Minister of Tourism and Relations with Public Utilities State Corporation of San Marino, UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, underscored how “accessible tourism benefits everyone and advancing the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities should be seen as an opportunity as well as an obligation; UNWTO and the Republic of San Marino are both deeply committed to taking concrete action in this area”.

"Accessibility has become a fundamental issue in tourism. Many countries are devoting special attention to this topic and are adjusting their tourism systems and legislations. After being recognised as 2013 European Destination of Excellence (EDEN), San Marino is being offered by UNWTO the opportunity to focus on accessibility through the organisation of a European Conference in the Republic, which fills us with pride. This is a major challenge for the future that we all must meet", said Mr. Lonfernini.

According to the World Health Organization 15% of the world population has a physical, mental or sensory disability. In its efforts to mainstream universal accessibility within the tourism sector, UNWTO works closely with Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs). In 2013, the General Assembly adopted the Recommendations on Accessible Tourism for All which incorporate the most relevant aspects of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and Universal Design.

Additional highlights include the publication of Manuals on Accessible Tourism, one of which has been already released in partnership with the Spanish ACS Foundation. The manual co-produced with the ONCE Foundation is expected to be issued soon.

The 1^st UNWTO European Conference on Accessible Tourism will be held alongside the 14^th meeting of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics (WCTE), which recently declared accessible tourism for all one of its top priorities.

 

Useful links:

UNWTO Ethics and Tourism Programme: Accessible Tourism

World Committee on Tourism Ethics

UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism

 

Contacts:

UNWTO Senior Media Officer: Marcelo Risi

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 

 

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218

PR No.: PR 14017

On the back of better than expected international tourism results in 2013 and the positive expectations for 2014 and beyond, “tourism has become one of the fastest growing economic sectors; a sector that drives global growth and development, creates millions of jobs, spurs exports and investment and transforms lives”, Mr. Rifai said.

But these forecasts are not to be taken for granted, Mr. Rifai said: “To ensure our sector remains competitive, we must address several challenges, which we have set as a priorities at UNWTO, committed to transform these into five major opportunities.”

On a policy level, UNWTO’s message to this year’s ITB underscores the need to improve travel facilitation, considering that about two-thirds of the world´s population to obtain a visa before departure. Air connectivity is another critical area, considering the clear linkages between aviation and tourism, and the fact that over 50% of the world’s international tourists reach their destination by air, while many countries still have disjointed policies between the two sectors. Finally, UNWTO calls for balanced taxation policies on tourism.

These policy areas require for tourism to become a national policy and not a sectoral one, Mr. Rifai said, underscoring that cross-cutting government policies and public-private partnerships are the necessary precursor to any sort of tourism development. “We have before us an opportunity to create new and innovative coalitions for tourism growth; models of cooperation that embrace the tourism public sector and private sectors, but also the civil society and other players coming from areas such as technology, arts, gastronomy or culture”, he said.

The ITB 2014 opening address of the UNWTO Secretary-General recalled that “alongside growth comes responsibility”. With the economic growth, job creation and development opportunities that tourism brings, comes the over-arching challenge of sustainability”, he concluded.

 

Useful links:

Full opening speech by UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai

Contacts:

UNWTO Senior Media Officer: Marcelo Risi

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 
 

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218 

 

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PR No.: PR 14019

Madrid Precious Time was born back in 2012, when 22 cities came together in Istanbul to identify the challenges facing city tourism today.

The project gathers public and private sector partners from diverse areas such as technology, hospitality, arts and culture, handicrafts, retail, design and insurance, working together to create new and innovative products that would help position Madrid as a ‘Premium’ destination. This prototype aims to serve as a template for collaborative approaches to the development of new tourism products in city destinations.

“There can be no tourism development without a close relationship between public and private sector; we believe the tourism sector needs to find new approaches to public/private sector collaboration to keep pace with the changes in the market and we hope this can become a model for others to follow,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, during the launch of the project.

The Madrid Mayor, Ana Botella, stressed that “this model of public-private collaboration brings together the best of Spain’s and Madrid’s tradition, modernity and innovation.”

Representing the Spanish Government, the Secretary of State of Tourism, Isabel Borrego, underscored: “Sun and beach tourism are not everything Spain has to offer. Further developing city tourism will help to diversify our tourism offer and economy.”

Note to editors:

The UNWTO Madrid Precious Time prototype is led by the UNWTO Affiliate Members, a part of UNWTO membership that gathers companies, academia and destinations, and is thus the perfect framework to test new approaches in tourism collaboration and innovation.

This project represents a practical learning exercise and produces a model that can be replicated in other cities and continuously improved in terms of implementation and innovation; a model that creates higher added value for cities’ tourists and greater and more sustainable benefits for local communities.

 

Useful links:

Affiliate Members Programme 

Video Presentation

 

Contacts:

UNWTO Senior Media Officer: Marcelo Risi

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218

PR No.: PR 14014

Under the chairmanship of Pascal Lamy (former Director-General of World Trade Organization - WTO), the World Committee on Tourism Ethics met for the first time in its new constitution as appointed by the UNWTO General Assembly in August 2013.

“The World Committee on Tourism Ethics is not destined to solve major political and economic issues at the global level; it will be a useful instrument in interpreting a frontier area, which is tourism ethics, by binding people together in an operational way”, said Pascal Lamy.

“One billion tourists crossing international borders every year can mean one billion opportunities but also one billion catastrophes; it is up to us to decide. Governments, companies and tourists themselves need to ensure tourism works as a force of good and I am convinced that the new Committee on Tourism Ethics will assist greatly in this endeavor”, said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

The Action Plan of the Committee for the coming four years will focus on:

• the exploitation of children in all its forms;
• trafficking;
• poaching and the illegal trading of wildlife;
• accessible tourism for all;
•  promotion of fair models of all inclusive holidays; and
• unfounded ratings on travel portals which may impact the reputation of companies  and destinations

The World Committee on Tourism Ethics is an impartial body responsible for interpreting, applying and evaluating the provisions of the the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.

Note to editors:

The UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism (GCET) is a set of principles designed to guide the development of tourism in a way that maximizes the socio-economic benefits of the sector, while minimizing any negative impacts. It was adopted in 1999 by the UNWTO General Assembly and endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2001.

The World Committee on Tourism Ethics, a subsidiary organ of the UNWTO General Assembly, reports directly to the Assembly. Members are elected in their personal capacities and not as officials of governments or representatives of their countries.

Members: Mr. I Gede Ardika (Former Minister of Tourism of Indonesia), Mr. Yoshiaki Hompo (Former Commissioner of Japan Tourism Agency), Ms. Fiona Jeffery (Former Chair of the World Travel Market), Mr. Khelil Lajmi (Former Minister of Tourism of Tunisia), Mr. Jean Marc Mignon (President, International Organisation for Social Tourism), Ms. Tanja Mihalic (Head of Institute of Tourism, University of Ljubljana), Mr. Ron Oswald (General Secretary, International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers´ Association), Mr. Eugenio Yunis (Executive Vice President, Federation of Tourism Enterprises of Chile); alternate members: Mr. Hiran Cooray (Chairman, Jetwing), Ms. Suzy Hatough (Director of Dar Al-Diafa for Tourism Human Resources Development Consultancy) and Ms. Gunnur Ozalp (Secretary-General, Association of Turkish Travel Agents).

Useful links:

UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism

World Committee on Tourism Ethics

UNWTO Private Sector Commitment to the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism

Pascal Lamy to chair the World Committee on Tourism Ethics

 

Contacts:

UNWTO Senior Media Officer: Marcelo Risi

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218 

PR No.: PR 14012

4^th Silk Road Ministers’ Meeting on Visa Facilitation (5 March, 11.00 – 13.00, Hall 7.3, Berlin Room)

The 4^th UNWTO Silk Road Ministers’ Meeting will bring together Ministers of Tourism and high officials to discuss how Silk Road countries can advance visa facilitation in 2014-2015 and beyond. On the occasion, UNWTO will release a new visa facilitation report on the Silk Road countries.

For more information, please click here or contact silkroad@unwto.org (by invitation only)

Launch of the UNWTO/UNODC/UNESCO Anti-trafficking Campaign: Your actions count – help fight trafficking! (5 March, 14.00 – 15.00, Hall 7.1, Auditorium New York 1)

UNWTO, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have joined forces to engage tourists in the global fight against the illicit trafficking. UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov, and UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova will co-chair the event.

For more information, please contact comm@unwto.org

Presentation of the UNWTO prototype Madrid Precious Time (5 March, 16.45-17.30)

The UNWTO prototype Madrid Precious Time is a pioneer project developed by the UNWTO Affiliate Members to promote innovative strategies of product development in cities. The project aims to create new and more specialized products with high added value, addressing niche markets and upgrading the quality of the visitor experience.

For more information, please contact am@unwto.og

3^rd Tour Operators’ Forum on the Silk Road (6 March, 11.00-13.00, Palais West)

This year’s Tour Operators Forum will be dedicated to the flourishing Asian section of the Silk Road. Aimed at operators active throughout the historic routes, the Forum will assess the performance and profile of some of the destinations driving the region’s growth, and provide a business platform for tourism stakeholders to network and build partnerships.

For more information and to register, please click here or contact silkroad@unwto.org

UNWTO Press Conference (6 March, 11.00-12.00, ICC, Hall 4/5)

UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, will present the latest figures on international tourism and outline the Organization’s priorities for the year.

For more information and registration, please contact comm@unwto.org

UNWTO African Tourism Ministers Meeting on Anti-Poaching (6 March, 15.00-16.30, ICC, Hall 4/5)

The growing threat posed by poaching on wildlife and the tourism sector in Africa and how to jointly address this issue from the tourism sector side are the focus of the UNWTO African Tourism Ministers Meeting.

For more information, please contact rdaf@unwto.org  (by invitation only)

29^th Meeting of The World Tourism Network on Child Protection (7 March, 10.30-13.00, ICC, Hall 7)

Join UNWTO, governments, the tourism industry, international organizations, NGOs and media associations, in the meeting of the World Tourism Network on Child Protection to curb the exploitation of children in the tourism sector. This year’s Special Session will focus on media partnerships, while the reporting session will be an open platform for exchanging good practices in the protection of children and youth in tourism. 

For more information, please contact ecsr@unwto.org
 

For the complete list of UNWTO activities at ITB 2014 please click here.
 

Visit the UNWTO stand at ITB: 20/127

Useful links:

ITB Berlin 
 

Contacts:

UNWTO Senior Media Officer: Marcelo Risi

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218 

 

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PR No.: 14008

The Handbook offers a comprehensive collection of perspectives on tourism and peace from leading international specialists with topics ranging from sustainable development and conflict resolution to eco-tourism and heritage preservation and includes several case studies.

On the occasion of the launch, UNWTO Secretary Taleb Rifai stated that “the fundamental experience of tourism – visiting a new place and meeting its people and culture - is a transformative aspect that defines tourism’s role as an agent of peace. In this age of travel, I trust that this Handbook will help enhance our understanding of the subject and open up further possibilities to foster tourism as a valuable instrument for peace.”

Ms. Elisabeth Udolf-Strobl, Director General of the Austrian Ministry of Economy, which supported the project from the beginning, said: "I am very pleased that an Austrian University is carrying out this project in cooperation with the World Tourism Organization. This proves the internationally recognized competence of Austria in tourism and in the field of peace research."

Ambassador Eichtinger from the Austrian Ministry of European and International Affairs praised tourism for its role in intercultural dialogue and exchanges. Quoting the author Mark Twain, he said: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness….”

The editors of the book, Cordula Wohlmuther and Werner Wintersteiner argue that there are different approaches to the complex topic of “tourism and peace” and that the handbook provides a good overview on this .Based on this diversity they conclude that aspects of “peace sensitive” tourism can be carved out and used by various tourism stakeholders and tourists, as well as international and development organizations.

The number of experts contributing both case studies and theoretical approaches makes the Handbook a unique and powerful contribution to the overall discussion about new pathways to peace. Published by the Centre for Peace Research and Peace Education of the Klagenfurt University (Austria), in cooperation with UNWTO, within the framework of their joint ‘Tourism and Peace’ project, this publication aims to make a substantial academic contribution, while providing also relevant insights for the broader public in presenting tourism as a powerful tool within the international peace building agenda.
 

Note to editors:

In order to better understand and promote the use of tourism as an instrument for peace, UNWTO launched the project ‘Tourism and Peace’ in collaboration with the Austrian Government and the University of Klagenfurt, in 2012. The project aims to build a better knowledge on tourism’s contribution to peace and elaborate recommendations to maximize the use of tourism in peace building, particularly in conflict prevention and reconciliation efforts.

Tourism as a force for peace is reflected in the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics, a set of guidelines for the development of sustainable and responsible tourism, approved by the UNWTO General Assembly in 1999 and endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2001.

Useful links:

The International Handbook on Tourism and Peace  can be ordered at: www.drava.at or/and by contacting office@drava.at

Tourism and Peace Project

UNWTO Global Code of Ethics
 

Contacts:

UNWTO Senior Media Officer: Marcelo Risi

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218