Message from United Nations SG on 22nd Session of World Tourism Organization General Assembly
As the UNWTO General Assembly welcomes more than 1,300 delegates to Chengdu, China, for its General Assembly, António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, delivered the following welcome.
It is a pleasure to greet the global tourism community at the 22nd General Assembly session of the World Tourism Organization.
I thank Secretary General Taleb Rifai for his leadership.
You gather during the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, as designated by the United Nations General Assembly. This observance aims to raise the profile of travel and tourism – one of the most impactful socio-economic sectors – within the international development community.
Your Assembly is also an opportunity to chart the sector’s course in helping to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Tourism is connected to the entire agenda, yet we still have to fully harness its power to be a transformative force for economies, societies and planet.
In this landmark year for tourism, I encourage you to do your utmost towards making tourism a pillar in every nation’s agenda for sustainable, inclusive, equitable and prosperous development.
UNWTO Regional Commission South Asia in Pictures
Photos by Christian del Rosario:
www.ChristianDelRosario.com
UNWTO General Assembly Kicks Off
The 22nd United Nations World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO) General Assembly has opened for pre-opening sessions in Chengdu, China on Monday.
+ Three regional committees each held a meeting: the Americas, Middle East and Africa convened to elect their new committee countries for the next UNWTO Executive Council.
+ Proposed Secretary-General Elect, Zurab Pololikashvili made a brief appearance before the several regional committee conferences. The same prepared comments were made to all regions, with the exception of one remark, which was made solely to the Europe committee.
Pololikashivili aggrandized if he won the SG election “it would be a win for Europe”. This divisive comment, from a proposed Secretary-General Elect, appears to pit regions against regions, which is not in concert with a united, cohesive UNWTO.
Another curious remark was the promise that Pololikashvili would “share our leadership”. One assumes the Secretary-General Elect, if approved, intended to convey he would share the leadership with the UNWTO membership. However, given a widespread belief Pololikashvili is simply a figurehead for Georgian top level politicians with an agenda unrelated to tourism, it was perhaps an unfortunate comment.
Breaking with protocol, the prepared statement was not made available to the media, and Pololikashvili is not available for interviews or clarification.
+ In other news, Nigeria will host the 61st conference of the United Nations World Tourism Commission For Africa (UNWTO CAF) in June, 2018. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed congratulated outgoing Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai on his stewardship of the UNWTO . He also commended Walter Mzembi, the out-going Chairman of CAF and Zimbabwe’s Minister of Tourism on the successful completion of his leadership of CAF.
+ Indian media are reporting Kerala tourism minister, Kadakampally Surendran has been denied permission by the Indian Ministry of Affairs to attend the General Assembly. Sources claim the decision is related to the Belt and Road initiative. However, Minister Surendran said,”Don’t you know the way the BJP government acts? I feel the only reason for being denied permission to travel is nothing but political.”
+ This World Committee on Tourism Ethics met
+ ST-EP Foundation lunch was a popular event on Tuesday attended by a senior member of Samsung to sign an MOU with UNWTO allowing to bring badly needed support to the popular ST-EP program under the leadership of Ambassador Dho Young-shim from South Korea. Dho Young-shim recognized Professor Geoffrey Lipman as the :ST-EP father since he started the initiative more than 15 years ago.
+ This General Assembly in Chengdu has two highly anticipated voting sessions that has generated widespread global interest: the Secretary-General election and the application of Palestine to become a member of UNWTO. Israel is continuing efforts to block Palestine’s bid to become a member of the UNWTO, which will be voted on during the assembly. Like the Secretary-General election, it will require 2/3 of the voting assembly to approve Palestine’s membership into the UNWTO.
Publisher Calls it Time Out – looking forward to UNWTO’s General Assembly
As Publisher, Juergen Steinmetz issued an open letter to WorldTourismWire readers today.
The letter reads:
The letter reads:
I have supported World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) for more than two decades. The upcoming 22nd General Assembly is a critical time for our world tourism leaders, countries and stakeholders know as associated members to come together during extraordinary times.
In the last week, between multiple ongoing hurricanes, and an earthquake wreaking havoc on iconic destinations, it is a reminder to us all how very fragile our tourism industry is.
Between global unrest, uncertain times and mother nature, it is sobering for us as an industry to grapple with how swiftly any tourism destination can suffer, with enormous work and resources needed to recover.
Chengdu, China will be a General Assembly with multiple issues, perhaps many we have not experienced before. We need to come prepared to problem solve, to contribute and to participate on a level that is unprecedented.
Personally, I’m very much looking forward to the extended UNWTO family gathering together in Chengdu next week.
It will be an assembly of nations with much to discuss, old friends catching up, making new acquaintances, building bridges, seminars, debates, and of course, there is also the Secretary-General election.
eTurboNews and our various publication unlike the majority of other travel and tourism media, we do investigate situations or issues, we don’t just publish press releases.
We do have opinions and will publish our own views, or voices who want to join a conversation. This stems from decades in the travel and tourism trenches, with a passion for our industry, and also for UNWTO.
None of our UNWTO election coverage was personal, we published every election article with a view to watch dogging the UNWTO community up to the highest, most pristine, unimpeachable standards possible.
Which is exactly how the UNWTO has always functioned: With dignity, the highest standards, and ethics.
This election should not, must not, change that. I consider everyone in our industry to be a colleague, if not a friend. If we have been critical recently of individuals or our UNWTO in articles, it comes from a position of caring passionately about the future of our industry.
We all know the top post within our UNWTO is of vital importance. The Secretary-General position is not for weak knees or a faint heart. It takes great heart, courage, intelligence and very strong, capable hands to guide our industry through modern day, ongoing turbulent times. As an industry, we are depending on delegates to vote very wisely next week.
Having said that, with the opening of UNWTO’s General Assembly in China just days away, we will be taking a time out from the election reporting.
Let’s all take a breather, make our way to Chengdu and make the most of gathering together, planning together, exchanging ideas together and moving forward together, for the greater good of our global industry.
Travel safely to Chengdu!
With sincere regards,
Juergen Steinmetz
publisher
Palestine Application for full UNWTO membership: Money talks for Israels fight to stop this
Many think tourism is something Israel and Palestine are agreeing on and tourism is a peace industry – are they correct?
Besides the confirmation hearing for the next UNWTO Secretary General, another important decision for the upcoming General Assembly is the application by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Tourism for a full membership into UNWTO. The application for Palestine was submitted last year. The full General Assembly has to agree with a two third majority to accept Palestine as a new country to join the organization.
The full General Assembly is getting together in Chengdu, China next week. Palestine became a full member of UNESCO in 2011.
Tourism is an important revenue channel for Palestine and also Israel. However, Israel is indirectly in control of Palestine tourism since all international borders are controlled by the Jewish State. The UNWTO “human right for tourists to travel” does not always apply when it comes to visiting Palestine, and having to deal with Israel’s rules.
From time to time, Israel puts more restrictions on tourism to Palestine, including disallowing western visitors to re-enter Israel when staying in a hotel in Palestine.
However, in the past cooperation between Palestine and Israel was an important and successful activity, and organizations including the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism and its founder Louis D’Amore had worked tirelessly for decades to make both Israel and Palestine understand the importance of tourism and peace. Louis d’Amore will be attending the UNWTO General Assembly in Chengdu next week.
The Israel Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said that Israel’s position is that the “State Of Palestine” does not exist, and therefore it cannot be accepted as a state in the UN or in any of its affiliated organizations.
Israel, of course, knows money always talks, and diplomatic pressure has been put on Taleb Rifai, the current Jordanian Secretary General to disallow Palestine’s move.
Money talks and Israel’s foreign ministry threatened: Granting state membership to the Palestinians will lead to a greater politicization of the organization and a cut in funding. Furthermore, the Jewish State continues its pressure on UWNTO member states saying: “We are not expecting any negative impact on Israel or its continued activity in the organization – the expected damage will be to the organization itself.”
Israel has taken all diplomatic measures to block the request,” an Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman told the Jerusalem Post.
The United States of America is not a member of UNWTO, but Israel Israel has also involved the Americans, who have warned the Palestinians that their joining the organization could have consequences in their relations with the US.
The application for Palestine is expected to be confirmed, especially since countries who could be counted on to support Israel and vote against the move – such as the US, Canada, the U.K.and Australia – are not members of the UNWTO.
Having Palestine as a full voting member of this global community could be an important step forward to secure peace and expand on tourism making the occupied territory seen less occupied and more independent.
UNWTO Taleb Rifai calls emergency meeting at General Assembly
It has been a tough week for World Tourism and the challenges are still developing. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization will take an opportunity when welcoming more than 1000 top tourism officials to Chengdu, China next week and called for an emergency meeting to discuss the impact of recent Hurricanes to the travel and tourism industry and the future of tourism Caribbean member nations.
Rifai took an excellent opportunity and shined as a very much respected leader of world tourism and showed immediate action. He is doing what leaders in his position are expected to do – he leads.
Encouraged by the Head of the ST-EP Foundation, Ambassador Dho Young-shim from Korea (former UNWTO Secretary General Candiate), who brought up an initiative to reach out to UNWTO members in the Caribbean in response to Hurricane Irma, today UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai who is believed to be in Korea issued this statement:
“UNWTO is deeply saddened by the tragic effects brought by Hurricane Irma across the Caribbean
“On behalf of the international tourism community, UNWTO conveys its heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims and stands ready to support the affected countries, where tourism is a pillar in the lives of so many people, to recover as swiftly as possible,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.
“UNWTO will work alongside the affected countries in all the necessary measures to support them and trust that as in previous occasion the people of these countries will show their resilience as life gets back to normal and they open for business” added Mr Rifai.
“UNWTO is conveying a special meeting to address the impacts of Hurricane Irma and the way forward on the occasion of its 22nd General Assembly taking place next week in China. The Assembly is expected to gather over 1000 participants from around the world.”
French UNWTO Delegate: More UNWTO Election News
Looking back to May 12, 2017, Madrid, the day the UNWTO Elections for the new Secretary-General took place. At the same time, there was a widely discussed national election in France. The French were busy, at home, and apparently, abroad in Madrid.
Highly placed sources have confirmed to eTN, the French voting delegate, Mr. Michel Durrieu, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development France, Head of Tourism Unit who was accused by the Zimbabwe Minister Mzembi, he had cut short any discussion or debate before delegates voted for their nominee Zurab Pololikashvili, has since been removed from his position by the French government.
Insiders are claiming Mr. Durrieu was promised a deputy post within the Secretariat, by the Georgia candidate, Zurab Pololikashvili, IF he is elected.
Regardless, and according to sources close to the UNWTO Secretariat, Mr. Durrieu is currently listed to represent France at the UNWTO General Assembly in Chengdu. wanting to conclude “unfinished business”.
Sure, the French Delegate knows ethics and decorum are valued and expected. Of course, any position, either as a deputy, or most of all, global tourism’s top post, should not be bartered for.
Located in Northern Georgia across the valley from the iconic 5,047m Kazbegi Mountain in Stephantsminda, the original Rooms Hotel was opened in 2012 in a former Soviet center for regional tourism packages and expeditions. Today, the Hotel Kazbegi, together with its restaurant and bar, make up the epicenter for the region’s tourism offering modern and stylish accommodations and distinctive design concept that embraces the historic legacy of the building and destination’s past.
On April 7, one month before the UNWTO election, Michel Durieu was a guest at this stunning 5-star Georgian resort. In this picture, Michel Durieu – Head of the Tourism unit in France is seen at the Hotel Kazbegi in Georgia and signed the hotel’s guest book The visit was documented on the hotel’s Facebook page .
The hotel GM proudly posted: Michel Durieu – Head of Tourism unit in France was visiting us yesterday! “
This was a wonderful and fulfilling experience. This place is full of love and care”
International tourism – strongest half-year results since 2010
Destinations worldwide welcomed 598 million international tourists in the first six months of 2017, some 36 million more than in the same period of 2016. At 6%, growth was well above the trend of recent years, making the current January-June period the strongest half-year since 2010.
Visitor numbers reported by destinations around the world reflect strong demand for international travel in the first half of 2017, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Worldwide, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 6% compared to the same six-month period last year, well above the sustained and consistent trend.
Results are underpinned by robust growth in many destinations and a continuation of the recovery in those that suffered declines in previous years. Of UNWTO regions, growth was strongest in the Middle East (+9%), Europe (+8%) and Africa (+8%), followed by Asia and the Pacific (+6%) and the Americas (+3%).
The first half of the year usually accounts for about 46% of total annual international arrivals, with the second half longer by three days and including the Northern Hemisphere high season months of July and August.
“The first half of 2017 shows healthy growth in an increasingly dynamic and resilient tourism market, including a strong recovery in some of the destinations impacted by security challenges last year”, said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai ahead of the 22nd session of the UNWTO General Assembly, to be held in Chengdu, China on 13-16 September 2017.
“As explained in my article ‘Tourism: growth is not the enemy; it’s how we manage it that counts’, international travel creates jobs, economic growth and development opportunities for many communities around the world. But this source of prosperity needs to be managed efficiently, for the good of visitors and host communities alike. This year we celebrate the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development (IY2017) to remind destinations and travellers that we must work for a sustainable tourism sector that protects the environment, preserves the cultural heritage of destinations, and fosters respect for local communities everywhere,” Rifai added.
Mediterranean destinations lead growth
Mediterranean destinations reported particularly strong growth in the first half of 2017, as reflected in the results for Southern and Mediterranean Europe (+12%), North Africa (+16%) and the Middle East (+9%). This trend is driven by the continued strength of many destinations in the area, combined with a significant rebound in destinations that suffered decreases in previous years, such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia.
Furthermore, international tourist arrivals through June grew 8% in Northern Europe, 6% in Western Europe and 4% in Central and Eastern Europe. Sub-Saharan Africa recorded 4% more arrivals.
South Asia (+12%) led growth in Asia and the Pacific, followed by Oceania (+8%) and South-East Asia (+7%), while results in North-East Asia (+4%) were more mixed.
The Americas continued to enjoy positive results across most destinations. Growth was solid in South America (+6%), Central America (+5%) and the Caribbean (+4%). In North America (+2%), robust results for Mexico and Canada were partly offset by a decrease in arrivals to the United States, the region’s largest destination.
Arrivals growth in this period was fuelled by strong outbound demand from major source markets. In particular, Canada, China, France, the Republic of Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States continued to report solid growth in outbound expenditure. This first half-year also saw a strong recovery in demand from Brazil.
Threats from Georgia: German investigative editor urges delegations to reject Zurab Pololikashvil for UNWTO SG
After claiming he received death threats from Georgia, Frank Tetzel, Editor in Chief for Fair-Economics, a leading German publication based in Berlin today urged delegations attending the UNWTO General Assembly in China next week to vote NO for the UNWTO Secretary-General Elect Pololikashvil confirmation. Frank Tetzel is also an investigative reporter for the German Edition of Huffington Post.
Tetzel today issued an open letter addressing all UNWTO delegates. Does his opinion piece make a strong case for not ratifying proposed Secretary-General Elect, Zurab Polikashivil?
Specifically, Tetzel, a citizen of Germany, is addressing the German delegation to the UNWTO General assembly and German tourism politicians, to raise awareness of the insidious election manipulation Georgia is continuing to engage in to ensure their candidate is confirmed next week at the General Assembly in Chengdu.
As part of the German free press, Tetzel has performed extensive due diligence on the Georgia candidate as part of the background for articles related to the UNWTO Secretary-General election. Tetzel has received extraordinary personal attention with multiple threats from individuals in Georgia, hoping to discourage his pursuit to learn more about Polikashivili and his past.
Tetzel’s article and the open letter was published today in Fair Economics and The Huffington Post.
TRANSLATION: Dear Members of the German Economic Ministry of Tourism, and Delegates of the UNWTO General Assembly:
Before the end of the current session of the German parliament, I want to share a concern, that in my view, is an urgent matter that needs immediate attention and action.
I would like to ask you to urge our representative at the tourism unit to make the right decision related to the election for the UNWTO Secretary-General and confirmation for Zurab Pololikashvili,. This is not a campaign, but the issue is for Germany to remain believable in a UN agency. Let me explain what has happened.
I was threatened via phone calls numerous times with this message: “If you love your family you better stop with the investigation.” The caller ID showed a number in the country of Georgia. The caller repeated this demand several times before disconnecting.
When I tried to call this number back I was told in English and Georgian language, that the number was not in service. I have filed two criminal complaints against “unknown” with the Berlin Police and with the Berlin prosecutors office.
I suggested to German authorities this threat may be in connection with my research on the UNWTO Secretary General election process for Zurab Pololikashvili, during the 105th UNWTO Executive Council in Madrid in last May. I have published a number of articles in Fair Economics and HuffPost to disclose irregularities related to this election. I discussed this issue with politicians and have tried to investigate further.
My research on the designated Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili,, has produced remarkable facts and inconsistencies which have since been documented. For example, on the Internet, there is no evidence of a past of the candidate, almost as if the Internet had been cleansed of the past life of the designated UNWTO Secretary General. Neither his role in the management of TBC Bank, one of the largest Georgian banks, nor his ministerial work or CEO of Dynamo Tiflis, has any trace of this man. In the international digital age, it is very curious, as if the prior life of the nominee from Georgia was erased.
It very much appears his government did a great job hiding his identity in cyberspace.
The current UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, brought up a good point when he was holding a press conference after the election on May 12 in Madrid. Rifai said: “Its member states that vote for a candidate.” Left unsaid was qualifications are secondary.
It seems this election is about political deal making. A member of the Georgian delegation in Madrid confirmed the highest priority for Georgian politics (unrelated to tourism) is to get, finally, the Secretary-General position of the UNWTO. For this, the candidate’s government has worked hard. They will continue putting pressure on voting delegates. The support indicated by the expected visit of Giorgi Kwirikaschwili at the General assembly applies, even more, pressure and shows their need for a confirmation to be important.
Of course, every government, including Georgia, has the right to nominate one of their own for the leading job at UNWTO. However, inviting voting delegates during the May election meeting to a sold out to championship football game is not appropriate.
The manipulations in Madrid are nothing short of scandalous, and it seems to be covered up. Perhaps the invitations to the football game by the Georgian embassy are considered “peanuts” for some, but it’s not ethical to invite voting figures to attend this game with a candidate and compliments by a candidate who is lobbying the same people to vote for him the next day. Delegates should not have been on the list of invited guests. This wouldn’t happen in Germany and other civilized western countries.
The football game has a high level of entertainment and attending this game could not have had a connection to any business discussion or business meeting. Because those invited are the top decision makers and voters, the shadow of being “bought” and the willingness to “sell” a vote is transparent. If this was happening in the private industry any compliance manager would have a serious problem with the issue.
Different from other UN agencies, UNWTO includes a good number of private stakeholders or associate members. Compliance managers for those associate members may have to urge boards to cancel their membership in UNWTO. The action UNWTO Executive Council members showed is contrary to the legal understanding of how this organization should function. In private companie, executives would have been fired or prosecuted criminally in far fewer circumstances.
One of the fundamental tasks of UNWTO is the implementation of the Global Ethics Code for Tourism. All members at the UN agency are supporting this. Ethics and getting the authority to function as a Secretary General without such ethics. This question must be asked to the proposed Secretary- General elect Zurab Polikashvili. How could any delegate justify to vote for such a man?
In the past, I have had very few career links with UNWTO. I am a journalist who often reports about sustainability and international cooperation issues. I became interested in UNWTO because of the sustainable year for tourism.
Why would I get involved in the UNWTO election process? First of all, my family and I were threatened. These are criminal acts. Secondly, I, therefore, decided to not only be a chronicler or journalist but one with an opinion.
What I have experienced in the last few weeks has made me doubt UNWTO. The representatives at the General Assembly in Chengdu should decide if they want a “continue like usual” or if they want a new beginning. Without credibility, competence in tourism and a willingness for reform, this agency will no longer be taken seriously in the future.
Therefore, may I ask you personally to respond with an appropriate NON-approval vote for Georgia’s candidate, from our country (Germany) at the General Assembly in Chengdu, China.
Sincerely
Frank Tetzel
Editor in chief Fair Economics
From the WorldTourismWire Editor: It’s not proven any alleged threats Mr. Tetzel received from Georgia can be linked to the UNWTO nominee or even to Georgia. All other issues raised including the football game had been reported by this publication numerous times. In a survey, 91% of responding WorldTourismWire readers thought attending the football game was equal to receiving a bribe in exchange for a vote.
The World Tourism Organization joins forces with the World Tourism Cities Federation
As tourism has become a powerful engine for the local economic and social development of cities, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has partnered with the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) to develop an instrument that can measure the performance of the sector in metropolitan areas. Under the title ‘UNWTO-WTCF City Tourism Performance Research’ the project will include a set of criteria and a platform for information.
According to UN Habitat (2050, 70% of the world’s population is expected to be living in cities. By 2025, metropolitan areas will contribute over 30 trillion US dollars annually to the world economy. As tourism currently accounts as a central component in the economic, social and geographical development of many cities it is essential to monitor tourism performance in urban destinations and clearly address the areas for improvement. As stated by UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai, “city tourism should go hand by hand with sustainable development; preserving environmental treasures together with tangible and intangible heritage should be parallel to the importance of engaging local communities”.
The partnership between UNWTO and WTCF to measure city tourism will assist policy makers and all stakeholders in their efforts to take strategic action for better urban tourism governance and sustainable management.
The project includes research on City Tourism Performance collecting information about the existing systems to measure city tourism performance worldwide. A total of 16 cities located in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin American participated in the survey. The exercise will allow to define a set of criteria that can constitute the best possible assessment of city tourism performance at a reasonable cost.
“Cities provide an important vehicle for world tourism development. Launched in 2015, the UNWTO-WTCF City Tourism Performance Research Programme has conducted a comprehensive analysis of 16 tourism cities in the world in the five areas: destination management, economic perspective, social and cultural perspectives, environmental perspective as well as technology & new business models. The findings offer very useful guidance for promoting sustainable development in cities around the world,” said the Secretary General of WTCF, Song Yu.
Applying the UNWTO-WTCF City Tourism Performance Research Survey requires involving different stakeholders’ groups. Data is collected at the city level by the tourism experts identified by UNWTO and WTCF. Some of the performance criteria can be collected from the official data sources from cities such as Census and household surveys although expert interviews are necessary to have a more in-depth understanding of each city.
The detailed survey, used by the experts, provides a detailed description of all performance criteria and includes a data collection sheet and a questionnaire tailor-made for interviews with representatives of the main stakeholder groups.
The results of the research conducted in the Asia-Pacific Region were presented last weekend in Tianjin, China and later this month on 26 September in Buenos Aires, Argentina a second workshop will discuss the results of the Latin American cities, aiming to create a platform to give recommendations to those cities on the selected key performance areas and to give general indications to all cities on recent challenges in urban tourism.
The 16 different city cases will be compiled in a publication free of charge on the UNWTO website which will serve as a guideline on how cities can improve their future implementation of tourism development.