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United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary General Taleb Rafai has released a video endorsing Sleep for Peace, an annual celebration of the peace-building benefits of travel hosted by Hostelling International USA. Sleep for Peace is held the week of September 21 to coincide with the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, and this year

The World Tourism Organization expresses its heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of all those affected by the earthquake in Mexico. “Today the whole tourism community is with Mexico and its people. We stand ready to support Mexico and its people in this difficult moment” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. “A top world tourism

The technical body of the African Union known as NEPAD is active at the ongoing UN General Assembly in New York. In 2016, 1235 million international tourists traveled around the world. Travel and tourism represent nine percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and one out of every 11 jobs. Africa’s aviation industry alone

The approval of the Chengdu Declaration on Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals, the adoption of the Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics and the appointment by consensus of Zurab Pololikashvili as Secretary-General for 2018-2021 were only some of the achievements of the 22nd session of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), held

Travel for study reasons is one of the segments that have resulted from the profound diversification of the tourism sector in the last years. With the aim of enforcing the uniqueness of this segment, the World Tourism Organization and StudentMarketing have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement in the framework of the 22nd session

Initiated by Jamaica’s minister of Tourism Edward Bartlett, a Special Meeting was organized on the occasion of the UNWTO’s 22nd General Assembly in to discuss how to support the destinations affected by Hurricane Irma and the earthquake that struck the southern coast of Mexico. Combining a press conference discussing the upcoming sustainable tourism conference in

Saint Petersburg in Russia has been selected to be the host of the 23rd session of the UNWTO General Assembly in 2019. The selection was made at the 22nd session, currently being conducted in Chengdu, China. Widely admired for its majestic architecture, cultural richness and historical significance, Saint Petersburg includes treasures within the art collections

UNWTO unveiled the winners of the 2017 Video Competition at the 22nd General Assembly held in Chengdu, China. Taking the People’s Choice Award was Indonesia. Regional winners were: Africa – Tunisia   Americas – Chile   East Asia and the Pacific – Indonesia   Europe – Greece   Middle East – Egypt   South Asia

The member States of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) approved today an historical document – the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics. The Convention, approved at the 22nd UNWTO General Assembly transforms the Code of Ethics for Tourism into an international convention, the first in the life of the Organization. The Convention covers the responsibilities of

The ‘smart’ concept has reached almost everything around us: phones, watches, cars… and also destinations. Smart tourism has taken center stage at the 22nd session of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly, currently taking place in Chengdu, China. The GA Special Session on Smart Tourism builds on the 1st UNWTO World Conference on Smart