“tourism, development and peace” · human kind to end with xenophobia and prejudice among...

P R E S I D E N T I A L V I S I T

“Tourism, Development and Peace”Oscar Arias, the President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize Award visits UNWTO

UNWTO: Committed to Tourism, Travel and the Millennium Development Goals2

Met with

Ministers, or equivalent level, in charge of tourism� Mr. Khélil Lajimi, Minister of Tourism, Tunisia

� H.E. Mr. Juli Minoves Triquell, Minister of Economic Development, Tourism and

Culture, Andorra

Other high-level personalities in tourism� Mr. Wardiyatmo, Secretary General, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Indonesia

� Mr. Francisco Madrid, Director, Tourism Administration School, Univerisity of

Anahuac, Mexico

� Mr. Didier Josephe, Director, Tourism Office, Les Houches, France

� Mrs. Ni Wayan Giri Adnyani, Director for International Relations, Ministry of

Culture and Tourism, Indonesia

� Mr. Yu Chong, Tourism Director, Shandong Province

Ambassadors� H.E. Mr. Yergali Bulegenov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Spain

� H.E. Mrs. Zeljana Zovko, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Spain

� H.E. Mr. Mohamed Ridha Kechrid, Ambassador of Tunisia to Spain

� H.E. Mr. Mwakai Kikonde Sio, Ambassador of Kenya to Spain

Mayors� Mr. Xia Geng, Mayor, Qingdao, China

� Mr. Jiang Daming, Governor, Shandong Province, China

International Organizations� Mr. Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP

� Mr. Edouard Dayan, Director General, UPU

� Mr. Shao Qiwei, Chairman, CNTA

From July 2008 to August 2008, the Secretary General

Oscar Arias, President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Price in1987, visited UNWTO headquarters on the 10th of September.This is the first visit of President Oscar Arias to the Organizationbut not the first time that UNWTO has the honour to receive a

President from Costa Rica – in 1984 President Luis Alberto Monge visitedthe Organization.

Addressing diplomats, special guests and the Spanish tourism authori-ties, President Arias underscored his firm belief in the capacity of thetourism sector to actively support the advancement of peace, under-standing and sustainable development.

“This Organization is the home of the traveller. This Organization pro-motes a vital activity for international economy, but also for toleranceamong human beings, because tourism is probably the best vehicle forhuman kind to end with xenophobia and prejudice among nations.

Costa Rica is the proof of the inescapable relation between tourism,development and peace”, President Oscar Arias said.

“His peace message is essentially the same one as UNWTO’s GlobalCode of Ethics for Tourism”, said Secretary-General FrancescoFrangialli.

Chairman of the UNWTO Executive Council:Ambika Soni, Minister of Tourism, India

Secretary-General: Francesco Frangialli

Deputy Secretary-General: Dr. Taleb Rifai

Assistant Secretary-General, Spokesperson:Geoffrey Lipman

Director of Programme and Coordination:Eugenio Yunis

Director of Administration: Peter Shackleford

Editorial Board:Geoffrey Lipman, Marcelo Risi

Media Officer: Marcelo Risi

Communications Officer: Alla Peressolova

Contributor: Marian Hens

Design: Graforama (Madrid)

UNWTO NEWS is published in English, French

and Spanish. ISSN 1014-7276. Reprints of texts

contained in this publication are encouraged.

The World Tourism Organization, a United Nations specialized agency, is the

leading international organization with the decisive and central role in world

tourism. It serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and a practical source of tourism know-how.

Its membership includes 154 countries, seven territories and more than 370 Affiliate Members

representing local government, tourism associations and private enterprise.

Tourism in the Face of theFinancial CrisisThe global economy is going through the most severe period of

turbulence since the second world war. The crisis is much broader,

deeper and more complex than the spectacular collapse of the financial

markets. It is “systemic” in nature, says the International Monetary Fund.

The short-term outlook is not good, as two crucial sectors of consumption

of American and European households –housing and cars– have already

been directly affected.

In the tourism sector, this sliding of the crisis from the financial economy to the “real” economy reduces

consumer spending, including transport and leisure. At the same time, the credit crunch affects small and

medium-sized enterprises, which constitute the backbone of the tourism industry of the developed countries.

Given such circumstances, we are worried, but we are not giving in to panic.

Experience teaches us that tourism is resilient. Travel is firmly established as a social need. Tourism is

less vulnerable than other economic sectors to the fluctuations of the current situation and dampens

their impact, although there is no denying that there is a certain stage of deterioration of the situation

beyond which tourism too will begin to suffer. All in all, tourism should be seen as a mitigating factor of

the economic crisis that is poised to follow the financial crisis.

International tourism will undoubtedly be affected, but it still has a bright future ahead of it.

Francesco Frangialli

UNWTO Secretary-General

UNWTO NEWS

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WTO NEWS 3-2008 INGLES(1) 15/10/08 12:33 Página 3

E C O N O M Y & TO U R I S M

Weathering the Storm

After one of the longest periods ofexpansion, the year 2008 has wit-nessed a slowdown of world econom-ic growth. Price increases in credit, oil,

food and commodity markets have contributedto global imbalances, affecting governmentspending and household economies.

The spillover-effect to consumer behavior hasmade tourism demand more volatile. But long-term tourism growth does not seem to havebeen affected - history shows the resilience andrecovery capacity of the sector.

International tourism registered solid growth in thefirst half of 2008 – at around 5% between Januaryand April, compared to the same period of 2007,according to the June edition of the UNWTOWorld Tourism Barometer, remaining about onepercentage point above the long-term trend.

The trend reversal for the tourism sector willhave begun with the summer holidays in thenorthern hemisphere. The Panel of Experts ofthe Barometer, which up until then maintainedfavourable views of the sector's situation, nowshows a perceptible loss of confidence regard-ing the short-term outlook.

The expectations of several private UNWTOAffiliate Members are also cooling down for theremainder of 2008 and reaching into the firsthalf of 2009.

Consequences for tourism

As early as the beginning of 2008, the UNWTOhas taken into account the possibility of such adire scenario along with its consequences forthe tourism industry, and began to prepare for it.

The Organization commissioned ProfessorPeter Keller to undertake a study of the eco-nomic scenario faced by the sector. An out-line of “Global Imbalances and StructuralChange in World Tourism” was discussedduring UNWTO’s 84th session of itsExecutive Council (Madrid, Spain, 14-15October). Professor Keller highlighted thetriple focus of his work:

� Underscoring the economic shocks andcrisis of the current year.

� Analyzing the impacts on world tourism.� Identifying key factors of change.

Various delegations attending the Executive

Council confirmed the validity of theapproach, sharing the current uncertaintywhile maintaining the long-term positive per-ception of tourism as a resilient sector in theeconomic turmoil.

As a result of assessing the economic perspec-tives, the Executive Council has established:

� The creation of a Resilience Committee ofits Members, open to other UNWTOMembers and the private sector Affiliates.

� To support this work, UNWTO will collectongoing information on the economicimpact, with special focus on air transportand major origin markets.

� UNWTO will provide its Members with ICT-based up-to-date information on theseimpacts and emerging response initiatives.

The challenge lies ahead – late 2008 and thefirst half of 2009, when the economic slowdownis expected to be more widely felt and con-sumers might decide to cut back further ontheir travel expenses.

Professor Peter Keller is Director of theTourism Institute, Business and EconomicFaculty HEC University of Lausanne(Switzerland) and Member of the StrategicGroup of UNWTO.

The final version of “Global Imbalances andStructural Change in World Tourism” will be pre-sented and discussed on the occasion of theupcoming Ministers’ Summit at World TravelMarket (London, UK, 11 November).

A full assessment of world’s tourism results (first8-9 months of 2008) and a 2009 forecast will bepresented in the next edition of the UNWTOWorld Tourism Barometer, to be released on theoccasion of the World Travel Market (10-13November, London UK).

How will tourism react to consumer insecurity, reduced financing capacity by

private banks and international public rescue plans? While many consumers

and firms fear to be cut off from essential credit, the global financial

breakdown is threatening the real economy.


The short term economic perceptionhas turned downward, however globalefforts to address poverty and climateimperatives within a 30-year frame-

work of change continue to progress. Theseefforts must be understood and embraced bythe tourism industry along with its role as anundisputed economic growth engine for richand poor nations alike, as a force for socialand cultural cohesion, and as a vehicle forenvironmental stewardship – particularly inemerging and least developed markets.

This will be the theme of this years’ Ministers’Summit during World Travel Market2008 in London, UK.

Tourism, Development andClimate Change

Many long-haul trips are often to countries thatare home to the planet’s poorest populations,which in turn stand to benefit the most from inter-national tourism. Climate change response,therefore, must avoid punishing travel.

Communities in developing countries, wherethe capacity to adapt is weakest, will be the firstvictims of global warming and these popula-

Staying on Course with ClimateResponse and Poverty Reduction

C L I M AT E & P O V E RT Y

tions will be doubly affected if we also deprivethem of the economic contribution from tourism.

With some 900 million international flightarrivals last year and 1.6 billion forecast in 2020the challenge to consolidate and focus the ben-efits of air travel, while continuously reducingthe carbon footprint is imminent.

The tourism sector must act now if it is to developa truly sustainable future, reducing its own green-house gas emissions intelligently and expeditious-ly reacting to the impacts on its own operations, aslaid out in the Davos Declaration Process.

Present and future action requires differentiatedapproaches, acknowledging that developingcountries tend to bear a disproportionate shareof the burden of climate change. Sustainabledevelopment is the best form of adaptation.

Against this background, the 2008 WTMMinisters’ Summit will follow on from the pastlandmarks on climate change, now includingthe short term economic dimension.

For more visit: www.UNWTO.org/climate/

Faced with global economic uncertainty this year, the tourism sector must seriously examine how these reservations

will affect the industry while making sure to not loose sight of its commitment to provide solutions to global

challenges, particularly global warming, sustainable development and poverty.

UNWTO: Committed to Tourism, Travel and the Millennium Development Goals 5


N E W S I N B R I E F

UNWTO is preparing World Tourism

2009 – the Yearbook of UNWTO, to

be launched at the end of this year.

This high quality publication will pro-vide a new networking opportunityaccessible online and offline. Itintends to be an invaluable source of

practical information for all members of theprivate and public sector, bringing togetherkey information currently available in a num-ber of sources such as:

� directory of Affiliate Members,

� calendar of world tourism events,

� contacts and information sources ofUNWTO, and

� an overview of the industry’s majorachievements and future objectives.

The Yearbook is an illustration of effectivepublic-private partnership and how proactivesupport from Affiliate Members can con-tribute positively to the UNWTO. It will furtheradvance the creation of a worldwide platformfor those seeking to shape the future oftourism in direct interaction with UNWTO.

The Yearbook will be delivered free of chargeto all UNWTO Members and Affiliates as wellas to an extensive list of tourism industrypartners.

World Tourism 2009 – the Yearbook ofUNWTO is produced by MoonshineMarketing one of UNWTO’s Business Councilmembers.

For more visit:http://moonshine.es/UNWTO/

� Sustainable tourism management is cru-cial for all countries

� Tourism growth is a gateway to economicdevelopment and wellbeing

� Uncontrolled tourism may hurt the potentialbenefits

The damage to cultural patrimony and naturalecosystems or the negative contribution of cli-mate change to tourist destinations are amongthe risks of not considering sustainable policies.This is the warning of UNWTO’s Committee ofSustainable Development of Tourism (SDT),which met in June in Athens, Greece.

The Committee members coincided in stress-ing the importance of adequate responses,especially adaptation and mitigation, to theimpacts of climate change in the tourism sector.The need to foster, among public and privatestakeholders and civil society a tourism con-science mindful of the environmental, socialand economic impacts of tourism and promot-

� The priority areas for UNWTO’s pro-gramme of work for 2010-2011 arebeing defined through a new sur-vey conducted by the Secretariat.

� The vast majority of UNWTOMember States have already sub-mitted their answers.

The consultative process launched by theSecretariat in February 2008 for the preparationof the next programme of work has beenreceived with strong interest and enthusiasmby most Member States: 114 of 153 havealready indicated their priorities for the nextbiennium 2010/2011.

In addition, constructive debates took placeduring the meetings of the RegionalCommissions and during the 83rd session ofthe Executive Council (Jeju, Republic ofKorea), allowing Member States to furtherdiscuss the results obtained from the surveyand to determine which areas of work are

World Tourism2009 – theYearbook ofUNWTO

Committee on SustainableDevelopment of Tourism

Preparing Future Outputsmost important for their respective regionsand for the whole Organization.

All Members have commended the new, partic-ipative approach adopted by the Secretariat inthe identification of priority areas for UNWTOaction. This approach will allow the Organizationto concentrate its efforts on a limited number offields, i.e. those which respond to most MemberStates’ needs, thus optimising the use of its lim-ited human and financial resources.

At its meeting in Madrid (2-3 September), theProgramme Committee examined the results of thiscomprehensive consultation process and gave itsfinal orientations to the Secretariat for preparing theDraft Programme of Work 2010-2011. This will besubmitted for approval by the Executive Counciland the General Assembly in 2009.

The UNWTO Secretariat would like to thank allMember States who took part in this new partic-ipative process that should result in enhancedbenefits for them.

ing the relevance of sustainable tourism forpoverty alleviation, are critical elements forfuture efforts.

The Committee underscored particularly theimportance of� the active involvement of private stakehold-

ers in climate change solutions;� the sustainable development of tourism

destinations to spread benefits to localcommunities and contributing to raisingstandards of living and empoweringwomen at destinations.

In this regard, the need to explore new ways ofmeasuring tourism success was highlighted.Indicators should aim to incorporate the impli-cations for sustainability and not be limited tothe number of international arrivals, but alsocontemplate the broader economic, social andenvironmental impacts.

For more visit: www.UNWTO.org/sdt

ClimateSolutions.travel


N E W S I N B R I E F

The tourism sector, public and private,is embarked on a proactive responseto climate change and UNWTO’s2007 Davos Declaration Process lays

out the guiding framework for a climate neu-tral strategy.

In light of this years’ World Tourism Day (WTD)campaign focused on Tourism: ‘Responding tothe Challenge of Climate Change’ and as a fol-low-up to actions that need to take place underthe Davos Declaration Process UNWTO islaunching ClimateSolutions.travel:

� A Central gateway for tourism stakeholdersand the UN system to showcase and pro-mote their Climate Solutions for the sector.

� A portal that offers climate intelligence withRSS-feeds, website links and a ClimateSolution wiki.

ClimateSolutions.travel will be promoted duringWorld Travel Market in London (10-13November), in the Regional Conferences onClimate Change in Egypt (23-24 November)and Colombia (3-4 December) and it is one ofthe main projects under the UN system ClimateChange programme of work. This initiative is

developed within the framework of UNWTO’seTourism for Development Programme of Work

and the new Affiliate Public Private Partnershipstrategy. www.Climatesolutions.travel

UNWTO’s 2008 Photo Competition highlights the World

Tourism Day theme: “Tourism Responding to the

Challenge of Climate Change”

The competition will showcase climate solutions in tourism – busi-ness and leisure travel – from around the world:

� Focus: Communities, companies and individuals –visiting or visited- acting to help respond to climate change as tourism stakeholders.

� Examples: Airlines testing new fuel, hotels installing solar energy,villages educating guests on good practice or tourists offsetting theirimpacts.

Prizes & winners:

� Prizes will include a trip to Machupicchu in Peru – the Host Nation forWorld Tourism Day and cameras for runners up.

� Winners will be notified before 30 December 2008.

� Winning photos will be displayed on UNWTO’s website and at majorTrade Fairs in 2009.

Information, rules & guidelines, registration & submission of photo-graphs: www.UNWTO.org/wtd/

Deadline is 15 December 2008

“Our Climate Solutions” -

Online Global Photo Competition

W O R L D TO U R I S M D AY

The tourism sector’s strong relationshipwith climate, its global social and eco-nomic value and its role in sustainabledevelopment, were at the centre of this

year’s World Tourism Day (WTD) Think Tank heldon the theme ”Tourism Responding to theChallenge of Climate Change”.

The official celebrations were hosted by thePeruvian government in the capital Lima. Basedon UNWTO’s promoted state of the art approachon Tourism and Climate Change, leading globalstakeholders discussed practical applicationsand policy issues at the Think Tank, chaired byH.E. Mercedes Araoz Fernández, Minister ofForeign Trade and Tourism of Peru. UNWTO offi-cials also participated in events in Andorra,Finland, Rumania, Spain and Uruguay held onthe occasion of WTD.

Catalyzing grassroots action by the tourism sec-tor to face the climate challenge is in line withUNWTO’s active support of the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) and ranks high onthe UN System Agenda, coinciding with the 7thMDG: Ensure environmental sustainability andthe proclamation of 2008 as the InternationalYear of Planet Earth which will extend to 2009.

“The climate challenge must not displace glob-al poverty reduction efforts. Both should be pur-sued simultaneously”, said UNWTO DeputySecretary-General Taleb Rifai, at the opening ofthe celebrations in Lima.

Think tank

The Lima Think Tank convened leading publicand private tourism stakeholders, representa-tives of civil society and of the UN system, whohighlighted the inter-relationship between cli-mate response and global poverty reductionefforts. Simultaneous efforts on both fronts arekey to effectively meet and promote sustainabil-ity goals by the tourism sector.

“Tourism must grow in a smart way. The com-mitment to credible sustainability criteria willrepresent big opportunities for new entrepre-neurs in this smart growth economy, involvingbusinesses, communities and innovative gov-ernments”, said the moderator of the event,UNWTO Assistant Secretary-GeneralGeoffrey Lipman.

The members of the Think Tank agreed thatspecial consideration must be given to theworld’s poorest countries. While these are theleast contributors to global warming, they willface the worst hardship of its consequences.

This will require new metrics to reflect the impor-tance and positive role of tourism, to go beyondexisting measurement tools.

The legal and the ethical base need to be devel-oped side by side and factored into this meas-urement, together with new databases to coverareas of intersect between public and privatesectors.

“The solution to extreme poverty and climate

World Tourism Day 2008 – Tourism willGrow SmartlyTourism will Grow Smartly

Chan Chan, the largest Pre-Columbian city in South America

Tourism growth must be pursued with increasing emphasis on ethics, local community involvement as well as reducing

carbon emissions systematically

Lima, Peru


W O R L D TO U R I S M D AY

The Peru Think Tank was mirrored by similar events around the world. Theoutcomes will provide the coordinated tourism sector input into the evolv-ing UN System response to climate change, coherent with the MDGs.

� Tourism can be a positive catalyst for national, regional and localchange. The private sector can be a leader but must also be a part-ner to governments and non governmental organizations.

� Tourism must be proactive and integrate the deep change in cultureand in operations that are required.

� Tourism is a communications industry for the world and it should beused to help educate the world on the need for action on climatechange coherent with the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

� Sustainability in action requires increased awareness and must befactored into general education policies and programmes, puttingtourism and climate change into curricula.

� Climate and poverty response need special support for the poor.The poorest nations are also the least contributors to global warm-ing but will face the worst hardship.

� Poor states should not pay for past excesses of rich nations.

� The new initiatives ClimateSolutions.travel and Tourpact.GC werewelcomed as innovative and concrete ways to keep the momentumon the Davos Declaration Process, to help advance replicable goodpractice and to engage the private sector.

change requires an urgent change of behav-iour in the general population. Tourism canencourage such a change through the responsi-ble use of energy and natural resources. In Peruwe consider that the long-term growth of theeconomy and of tourism can go hand-in-handwith proper environmental sustainability”, saidH.E. Mercedes Araoz Fernández.

All over the world, national and regional levelInitiatives are emerging based on the DavosDeclaration Process:

� The Amazon – shared by Brazil, Colombiaand Peru - can become part of the solutionas a preserver of biodiversity and a massivecarbon sink with a huge ecotourism potential.

� Particular note was taken of the Peruvianforest conservation plans.

� The Sri Lanka Earth Lung has galva-nized and engaged the entire sustainabilitymovement from industry to local communi-ty and non governmental organizations.

� In Africa, the close and evolving linkagebetween climate and poverty response ini-tiatives stand out, evidenced in Ghana.Furthermore, the massive transborder con-servation areas, represented by the PeaceParks, can also become earth lungs.

� Argentina offered an example on thediscussions to consider and integratetourism activities with other ministries, tak-ing note the sector’s horizontal socio-eco-nomic impact.

Against this background, tourism has to takeadvantage of its potential as a global communi-cations industry.

The sector can be used as a platform to helpeducate the world on the need for action on cli-mate change coherent with the MDGs.Participants of the Think Tank welcomed twonew initiatives:

� ClimateSolutions.travel: Built withsupport of Microsoft, this portal will be aglobal repository of good practice for alltourism stakeholders to replicate (see page7 of this issue for more information).

� Tourpact.GC: The first sectoral initiative ofUN’s Global compact. It links the CorporateResponsibility Principles and Processes ofthe Compact with UNWTO’s Global Code ofEthics for Tourism. The UN Secretary-General has welcomed it as an initiative tobe followed by other sectors (see page 11 ofthis issue for more information).

ClimateSolutions.travel and Tourpact.GC repre-sent innovative and concrete steps to keep themomentum on the Davos Declaration Process,to help advance replicable good practice andto engage the private sector.

The Davos Declaration Process encourages alltourism stakeholders to adapt to changing cli-mate conditions, mitigate greenhouse gasemissions from the sector, apply existing andnew technologies to improve energy efficiency;and secure financial resources to assist regionsand countries in need.

World Tourism Day was established in 1980and is the United Nations leading WorldTourism event, celebrated every year on 27September in countries all around the world.

The purpose of World Tourism Day is to fosterawareness among the international communityof the importance of tourism and its social, cul-tural, political and economic value.

Think Tank Conclusions

Opening the oficial World Tourism Day

Celebrations, H.E. Mercedes Araoz

Fernández, Minister of Foreign Trade

and Tourism of Peru

UNWTO Deputy Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, adresses the

Presidency of the World Tourism Day Think Tank


S M A RT TO U R I S M


T he European Union (EU) has secured a substantive grant for theUNWTO’s “Excellence in Energy Efficiency for the Tourism Industry,Accommodation Sector: SME Hotels” (EETI) project.

The overall objective is to increase energy efficiency and the use ofrenewable energies, by providing the hotel industry with a user friendlytoolkit. This set of instruments will offer a benchmarking tool and a rangeof best practices and investment solutions. The EETI project was initiatedby UNWTO Business Council in collaboration with the SustainableDevelopment of Tourism Department, responding to a call for proposalsfrom the European Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation(EACI) in 2007. UNWTO’s partners in this endeavour are the UNEnvironmental Programme (UNEP), the International Hotel andRestaurant Association (IHRA), the French Environment and EnergyManagement Agency (ADEME) and the European Renewable EnergyCouncil (EREC).

The total value of the project is 1,148,092€, with the bulk of 75% provid-ed by the Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme, which recognizes therole of the tourism industry regarding energy efficiency policies in Europe.The remaining 25% is secured by the partner agencies. The project out-comes will be also disseminated in other regions beyond Europe.

Helping small and medium enterprises

The project targets small and medium enterprises (SME) in the accom-modation sector. Further beneficiaries will include hotel associations,national tourism bodies, destinations and tour operators, as well as greentechnology suppliers and manufactures.

EETI is expected to result in at least 20% overall energy savings, includ-ing the increase of renewable energies production by 10% in the pilothotels during the project life time and beyond. In practical terms, the ini-tiative will yield in more efficient use of major hospitality operationalfacilities such as: heating, cooling, lighting, washing, drying, only few tomention.

EnergyEfficiency

Copyright Manuel Charlón

Natural ventilation, Palacio de Isora Hotel, Tenerife, Spain

Increasing competitiveness and sustainability

Half of the world’s hotel rooms, nearly 5.45 million, are located in Europe.The enhanced use of renewable energies such as photovoltaic, ther-mosolar, geothermal or eolic will have a special place in the SME hotelmanagement.

Thanks to EETI, UNWTO will be able to assist in increasing the competi-tiveness and sustainability of the hotel sector by:

� Developing effective dissemination and promotion tools and materi-als for energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) use in thehotel sector, targeting management actions and investment deci-sions on energy.

� Ensuring widespread communication of these tools and materials toSME hotels.

� Promoting the know-how and experience exchanges between SMEhotels as energy users and the suppliers and manufacturers of EE /RE technologies, and other key actors.

� Raising awareness of SME hotel managers, decision-makers, staffand consumers in relation to energy use and efficiency.

� Testing practical benchmarking tool in approximately 100 hotels in fourdifferent types of destinations (coastal, urban, mountain, rural) in orderto determine the most adequate and cost-effective technologies.

� Establishing a network of organisations with commitment to dissemi-nate and promote the EETI tools and materials on EE / RE to SMEhotels.

For more information contact [email protected]

Hotels can make the difference in climate

change response thanks to a new UNWTO

project leading, among others, to:

� at least 20% overall energy savings and

� increasing renewable energy use by 10%

TOURpact.GC was welcomed by UNSecretary General Ban Ki-moon as aleadership initiative with a potential forother sectors. It is a voluntary mecha-

nism to provide a corporate social responsibili-ty framework, open to Companies,Associations and other Tourism Stakeholderswho are Affiliate Members of UNWTO.

As the world's largest, global corporate citi-zenship initiative, the Global Compact is firstand foremost concerned with exhibiting andbuilding the social legitimacy of business andmarkets.

TOURpact.GC reflects the aligned principles ofthe Global Compact and UNWTO’s GlobalCode of Ethics for Tourism. This voluntary initia-tive is designed to mainstream ten key princi-ples of social responsibility in business activityand to catalyze action to support the UNMillennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Participants will make four Commitments:

1. To embrace the Principles of the initiative,which will be drafted on the basis of the UNGlobal Compact principles and theUNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.

2. To promote their awareness and implemen-tation with business partners, in their sup-ply chain, with customers and staff.

3. To use the logo and the collateral in theircorporate social responsibility campaigns.

4. To report annually on their plans and progress.

The complex interfaces within tourism marketsand supply chains call for widespread coordi-nation between institutions at local national andinternational levels, if quality products and serv-ices are to be delivered. This is even more chal-

lenging in poor countries, developing marketsand small island states:

� TOURpact.GC seeks to strengthen theselinks through partnerships in the spirit of theMDGs.

� TOURpact.GC will help to drive a responsi-ble tourism business agenda. We are com-mitted to assist Tourism Companies andtheir Associations to make a valuable con-tribution to the countries and cultures inwhich they operate, to their customers,their shareholders and future generations.

� To this end we will promote the soundframework of Global Compact engagementmodels, the UNWTO ST-EP project(Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty)and the Davos Declaration Process.

TOURpact.GC a new frameworkfor Tourism Corporate SocialResponsibilityTOURpact.GC was launched by the UN Global Compact and UNWTO on the

occasion of the official World Tourism Day (WTD) celebrations in Lima, Peru.

UNWTO is strengthening its efforts toencourage the implementa-

tion of the GCE through its “Protect ChildrenCampaign” as one of the Code’s subsets.

The organization encourages its public and pri-vate stakeholders to raise awareness aroundthis issue and integrate it into their evolving cor-porate social responsibility programmes.

Secretary–General Francesco Frangialli saidthat “With the backing of various internationalpartners both from the public and private sec-tors, this awareness-raising campaign shouldmake it possible to place the issue of childexploitation firmly back on the agenda ofresponsible tourism, of corporate socialresponsibility and on the international humanrights agenda”.

For more visit:

www.UNWTO.org/protect_children/

Advancing theGlobal Codeof Ethics forTourism

The Global Code of Ethics

� Mutual Understanding & Respect� Collective & Individual Fulfillment� Vehicle for Sustainable Development� Protector of Cultural Heritage� Beneficial for Host Communities� Obligations of Stakeholders� Rights to tourism� Liberty of Tourism Movement� Rights of Workers & Entrepreneurs� Commitment to Implementation

The Global Compact

� Human Rights– Support Framework & Respect

Rights– No Abuses

� Labour Standards– Support Association & Bargaining– No Compulsory Labour– No Child Labour– No Employment Discrimination

� Environment– Support Precautionary Principle– Respond proactively– Encourage new Technology

Within the framework of advancing

the Global Code of Ethics (GCE) for

Tourism, UNWTO is looking for

further support by its public and

private Members to highlight

children’s rights and protect them

from possible exploitation.

S M A RT TO U R I S M


Joint UN Programme

One of the world’s richest biodiversityareas in the Amazon stems to benefitfrom UNWTO’s first project within theUNDP-Spain MDG Achievement Fund,

launched at the beginning of 2007.

The “Conservation and SustainableManagement of Natural and Cultural Heritageof the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve” (YBR) willallow the conservation and sustainable man-agement of one of the world’s greatest areas ofbiodiversity in the Amazon region of Ecuador.

Tourism has been identified as one of the bestsustainable economic alternatives to activitiesrelated to the oil industry, logging, uncontrolledtourism or extensive livestock and farming.These have been identified among severalthreatening practices for the area.

The outline of the project warns that the unique-ness “of the patrimony of flora and fauna in the2 million hectares of the Yasuní Reserve areunder serious threat together with the 290 thou-sand indigenous people who live in it, most ofthem subsisting in poverty or extreme povertyconditions”.

Thus, sustainable tourism pilot projects at acommunity level and active support to enhancethis approach will be among UNWTO’s activi-ties within the Reserve.

Grassroots development

Environmental sustainability is the guiding prin-ciple for this project. Priority is also given to pro-tecting the rights of vulnerable populations -especially indigenous populations living in vol-untary isolation – on a participative, agro-eco-logical and gender approach basis.

Overall, the UN Joint Programme assists theEcuadorian government in the implementationof national and local policies for the manage-ment and conservation of the YBR through,among others:

� an integrated community-based approach;� incorporation of policies for the protection

of populations in voluntary isolation; and� planning and decentralisation processes

for the environmental management compe-tencies delegated to sectional govern-ments.

Climate response

In line with UNWTO’s leadership role intourism’s global climate response, plans for cli-mate change adaptation and mitigation arebeing implemented, including:� Raising the profile of environment in the

national policy agenda and mobilizing thepolitical commitment to mainstream environ-ment in national development processes;

� Improving institutional capacities to main-stream environment in development plan-ning and implementation, using participa-tory approaches where appropriate;

� Removing barriers that limit the poor’saccess to and economic benefits fromecosystem services and equitable accessto water and land resources, particularlyamong the rural poor and women.

These plans contemplate mechanisms tofinance the sustainable management and con-servation of the Biosphere Reserve, compen-sating Ecuador for forgone revenues from oilexploitation in the Reserve.

Further projects participated by UNWTO withinthe UNDP-Spain MDG Achievement Fundinclude programmes in Egypt, Honduras,Nicaragua, Senegal and Turkey, supportingMDGs linked to cultural promotion, socioeco-nomic development, the environment and cli-mate change. These activities will be coveredin upcoming editions of UNWTO News andcommunicated in detail on the organization’swebsite: www.UNWTO.org.

For more on the UNDP-Spain MDG Achieve -ment Fund visit: www.undp.org/mdgf

Ecuador - Tourism &MDGs in Action

This UN Joint Programme counts with aUS$ 4,000,000 budget and falls in linewith the priorities set out by the UnitedNations and the Spanish Agency for

International Cooperation (AECID).

It is being implemented over three years underthe leadership of the Ecuadorian Ministry of theEnvironment.

UNWTO counts on the collaboration of the fol-

lowing UN agencies: UN DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP), Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO), UN Human SettlementsProgramme (UN-HABITAT), and UNDevelopment Fund for Women (UNIFEM).


O N E U N

C R I S I S R E S P O N S E

UNWTO is part of the vast amount ofpreparatory response

activity on avian flu prevention carried outacross UN agencies. Tourism has been fullyintegrated into that programme at a globalregional and national level.

It is estimated that on any given day some 5-10million people are engaged in internationaltourism – for business and leisure. In majoremergencies they are a highly visible popula-tion which needs to follow national as well asinternational procedures. They are of particular

interest to the media and intensify the globalfocus on regional emergencies. So while theTsunami of 2003 directly affected a dozencountries the citizens and families of more than50 were involved.

And in the case of health crises such as SevereAcute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or AvianFlu they are a special case as potential crossborder carriers. Language and regulatory dif-ferences increase the challenge significantly.New international health regulations aredesigned to respond to this situation, andUNWTO is closely engaged with the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) to support theirimplementation.

Fast and accurate communication is acritical part of crisis response - particularlywhen it comes to health related emergenciesand it is an area that UNWTO has made a pri-ority focus. In simple terms, the longer thedelay of credible information, the more chancefor confusion, mixed signals and potentialpanic reactions. Clear concise messaging, incontrast, helps to clear uncertainty and encour-age calmer more informed response. Much ofthis can be delivered by harnessing the incred-ible power of multimedia channels and moderninformation communications technology.

UNWTO is currently working with the WHO andthe Department of Public Information of the UNto improve emergency communications:

� An Emergency Notification System allowsinstant and automatic alerting of all partici-pating UN agencies.

� This is complemented by an informationsharing platform to ensure UN wide com-munication consistency.

� The system will be hosted on UNWTO’s ITinfrastructure at the UN InternationalComputing Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

� Finally as far as tourism is specifically con-cerned, UNWTO’s emergency responseportal www.sos.travel provides a linkfor the entire tourism sector, destinationsand ultimately consumers or their families.This portal tracks all kinds of major naturaland manmade disasters – weather, pan-demic, terrorism and the like. It is based onstate of the art technology provided byUNWTO’s partner Microsoft.

Sos.travel allows instant information on the stateof emergencies as they occur around the world,as well as a tracking mechanism to indicate theirevolution. For coherent information within theindustry and consistent messaging to customerswe host the Tourism Emergency ResponseNetwork (TERN) of 15 major network organiza-tions with access to hundreds of thousands oftourism outlets and millions of customers.

For more visit: www.SOS.travel

New Emphasis for Crisis Response

� Avian Flu has retreated from the

headlines, but the pandemic

threat remains high. UNWTO is

playing a key role within the UN

led precautionary response.

� The same framework has been

adapted to provide a broader

crisis response mechanism

thanks to the use of Information

Communications Technology.UNWTO communications support


E C O N O M I C I M PA C T O F TO U R I S M

To foster the economic and political visi-bility of employment in tourism as asource of productive labour dependson how adequate employment and

decent work in tourism is measured.

Improving data collection is precisely one of themain points of the cooperation frameworkbetween UNWTO and the International LabourOrganization (ILO), carried out within the con-text of the UN Tourism Satellite Account (TSA).The TSA was established under UNWTO lead-ership as a tool to measure tourism’s impact ineconomic growth and job creation.

The recent joint UNWTO/ILO publication‘Sources and Methods: Labour Statistics –Employment in the Tourism Industries, SpecialEdition’ is a pioneering effort to respond to thechallenge of reflecting the economic value oftourism.

“This joint research effort provides practicaltools which will also serve the political supportof the increasing recognition of tourism as aneconomic – employment and growth – driver inits own right”, says UNWTO Secretary-GeneralFrancesco Frangialli.

The publication is expected to enhance theproduction of reliable and consistent statisticson employment in the tourism industries in agrowing number of countries, helping to

improve their understanding and extend theirapplication in the national statistical systems.

Reliable data for sustainablepolicy

Only a limited number of countries producemeaningful tourism employment statistics.Knowledge about the world of work in thetourism industries will remain scarce as long asreliable data in this field remain unavailable.

Improving the methods of data collection willprovide users with reliable and consistent infor-mation on the key employment aspects intourism characteristic activities - wages, occu-pational structure, job qualifications, skills andworking conditions.

The joint UNWTO/ILO publication containsmethodological descriptions of statistical dataon employment, wages and hours of work, aswell as methods used by countries to computethese variables. The tools provided willenhance the usability of data for particularneeds and also assist users in evaluating dataquality and cross-country comparability.

This can only but expand knowledge abouttourism’s overall economic impact and thushelp to further mainstream tourism aspects intogeneral policy.

Work in tourism and tourism’s economic value in terms of employment,

remain inadequately measured and insufficiently studied - says new

UNWTO/ILO publication

Reliable tourismstatistics regard-ing its economicimpact contributeto define and fos-ter effective tourismpolicy. Rigorous sta-tistical information is theprerequisite for consistenteconomic analysis of the sector.

The United Nations and associated agencies -among them the International Monetary Fund(IMF) and ILO - have formally accepted theTSA as the international standard to measuretourism macroeconomic contribution.

As a tool that requires medium/long termwork in progress, TSA projects facilitate thepolitical recognition of tourisms capability andversatility through:� increasing awareness regarding the

importance of coordinated (tourismdevelopment) planning on a regionallevel, and

� the usefulness for local tourism stake-holders.

For more visit:www.UNWTO.org/statistics

UNWTO and ILO sent questionnaires to morethan 200 countries and territories to collect thedata for the publication. According to the infor-mation received:

� Only a few produce both comprehensive setsof statistics on employment in the tourismindustries and the TSA employment table.

� The others collect a limited number of vari-ables on tourism characteristic activities.

� Only a small fraction of them either alsoproduce or have started to prepare for pro-ducing the TSA.

Room for improvement� Australia, Austria, Canada and New

Zealand have both the most comprehen-sive set of statistical tools for measuringemployment in the tourism industries andthe most exhaustive list of statistical vari-ables produced.

� Countries such as Germany, Japan, theNetherlands and the USA do not compilestatistics on employment in the tourismindustries, which is noteworthy given theirhighly developed tourism economy.However, some of them, like Germanyand the USA, produce TSA.

Getting the Numbers Right - DecentEmployment in Tourism

The TourismSatellite Account



October

21-22Workshop on the Tourism Satellite Account

Cebu, Philippines

22-25Sixth International Forum on Tourism for

Parliamentarians and Local Authorities

Cebu, Philippines

22-31Practicum Headquarters

Madrid

November

05-07Seminar on Ecotourism and Protected

Areas in Africa: Contributing to community

development and conservation

Maputo, Mozambique

09Meeting of Executive committee of the Task

Force for the protection of children in tourism

London, United Kingdom

E V E N T S

09Associations Leadership Think Thank


09Meeting of the Board of Affiliate Members


10Twenty-third meeting of the Task Force for

the protection of children in tourism

World Travel Market, London, United Kingdon

11Ministers ̓Summit

Responding to the Economic Downturn

and Staying on Course with the Climate

and Poverty Reduction Agenda


12Tourism Climate Change Solutions:

improving sustainability and

competitiveness


14-15Seventh meeting of the World Committee

on Tourism Ethics

Rome, Italy

16-18International Conference on Revitalization

of Tourism and Confronting Crisis

Chengdu, China

23-24Regional Conference on climate solution

for the tourism industry for Middle Eastern

and European countries

Sharm el Sheik, Egypt

December

03-04Regional Conference on Climate Solution

for the Tourism Industry for the Americas

and Caribbean Countries

Bogota, Colombia

17-182nd UNWTO Conference on Tourism

Trends and Outlook

Guillin, China

Bali

What?The Conference will offer the first ever globalfocus on employment as a key challenge forNational Tourism Administrations and thetourism industries will address the measure-ment and quality of employment in the sector.

UNWTO’s International Conferences on TourismStatistics (Ottawa 1990, Nice 1999, Vancouver2001, and Iguazu 2005) have been significantmilestones in the definition of tourism statisticsinternational standards.

Programme highlightsSetting the basis for the “way forward” after keychanges to the existing framework of basictourism statistics (recently approved by theUN), which include monetary variables, supply

side data, employ-ment statistics, andthe identification oftourism in the bal-ance of payment,among others.

Ministerial sessions on (i) employment policyissues in tourism, (ii) employment and decentwork in tourism as a tool for poverty alleviation,(iii) UNWTO guidelines for fostering employ-ment and decent work and (iv) ILO employmentand decent work tool-kit and its application totourism.

Where and when?Bali, Indonesia, 30 March – 2 April 2009For more visit: www.UNWTO.org

5th UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics

Tourism: An Engine for Employment Creation

World Tourism Organization

Capitán Haya, 42

28020 Madrid, Spain

Tel.: +34-91-567-8100, Fax: +34-91-571-3733

[email protected]

www.UNWTO.org

In 1947, Norway was one of the 19 foundingmembers of the International Union ofOfficial Travel Organizations (IUOTO), theorganization which preceded the modern

UNWTO. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ofNorway officially submitted its application forfull membership of UNWTO on 8 September2008.

The Membership in UNWTO is part of Norway’snational strategy for the tourism industry, whichhighlights the importance of the further devel-opment of the sector as a vehicle for economic

growth, in addition to traditional industries suchas fishing, agriculture or oil. The Arctic Circle,the world famous fjords of Western Norwegianwith tall mountains and glaciers – Norway high-lights these attractions within its tourism strate-gy aiming at increasing the revenues from thetourism sector.

More income from tourism will support ruralcommunities through year-round jobs in tourismand lead the way to establishing Norway as asustainable destination, in line with one ofUNWTO’s major objectives.

U N W TO M E M B E R S

UNWTO welcomes Norway as a New Member State

� From 2000-2007 international tourismarrivals to Norway grew at 4.7% per year.

� In 2007 international tourist arrivals sur-passed for the first time 4 million, gener-ating US$ billion 4.4 in receipts.

� Over 90% of tourists and visitors comefrom other European countries.

� As an outbound market, Norway isamong the top 20 tourism spenders inthe world.

UNWTO is pleased to welcome the Kingdom of Norway as its 154th Member State. Norway represents the 45th

Member State within UNWTO’s Regional Commission for Europe.

VisitNorway.com

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