World Tourism Organization

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World Tourism Organization Building in Madrid

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is a United Nations agency dealing with questions relating to tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. It compiles the World Tourism Rankings. The World Tourism Organisation is undoubtedly the most significant global body concerned with the collection and collation of statistical information on international tourism. This organisation represents public sector tourism bodies from most countries in the world and the publication of its data makes possible comparisons of the flow and growth of tourism on a global scale.

[edit] History

The World Tourism Organization originated as the International Congress of Official Tourist Traffic Associations, which was set up in 1925 in The Hague. After World War II, it was renamed the International Union of Official Travel Organisations (IUOTO) and moved to Geneva. IUOTO was a technical, non-governmental organization, whose membership at its peak included 109 national tourist organizations and 88 associate members, among them private and public groups.

In 1967, the members of IUOTO called for its transformation into an intergovernmental body empowered to deal on a worldwide basis with all matters concerning tourism and to cooperate with other competent organizations, particularly those of the United Nations system, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO, and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). A resolution to the same effect was passed in December 1969 by the UN General Assembly, which laid out the central role the transformed IUOTO should play in the field of world tourism in cooperation with the existing bodies within the UN. Following this resolution, the WTO's statutes were ratified in 1974 by the states whose official tourist organizations had been members of IUOTO. The newly formed organization held its first General Assembly in Madrid in May 1975. The Secretariat was installed in Madrid early the following year at the invitation of the Spanish government, which provides a building for the headquarters.

In 1976, WTO became an executing agency of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In 1977, a formal cooperation agreement was signed with the United Nations itself. In 2003, the WTO was converted into a specialized agency of the United Nations. As of 2005, its membership included 145 countries, seven territories and some 350 affiliate members, representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities. The frequent confusion between the two WTOs – World Tourism Organization and the Geneva-based World Trade Organization – officially ended on 1 December 2005, when the General Assembly approved to add the letters UN (for United Nations) to the start of abbreviation of the leading international tourism body in English and in Russian [1]. UNWTO abbreviation remains OMT in French and Spanish. UNWTO General Assembly concluded its work at its 16th session in Dakar, Senegal, on 2 December 2005.