The World Travel & Tourism Council (
The World Travel & Tourism Council (
The current President of WTTC, Mr Jean-Claude Baumgarten, stated: "We are hopeful that Mr Lipman will continue to champion the principles set out in these reports and speeches and are confident that this will greatly assist OMT to work towards our common goal of liberalised markets."
The travel and tourism industry has the potential to bring economic prosperity to developing as well as developed economies. To fulfil its potential, the industry needs open markets and a liberal trading framework. Both OMT and WTTC forecast strong growth for the international Travel & Tourism industry, and promote the liberalisation of markets to foster this growth.
In July 2001, WTTC withdrew from the WTO's Working Group on Liberalisation because it formed the view that the WTO, an inter-governmental body, had hitherto failed to reflect the characteristics and concerns of the private sector. Mr Lipman's experience as President of WTTC during the first 10 years of the Council's existence will help to address a major gap in this vital area of the WTO's work.
The mission of WTTC is to raise awareness of the importance of travel and tourism and to work with governments to make it an economic and job-creating priority. WTTC encourages Mr Lipman to continue this mission in his new role as adviser to the Secretary-General of the WTO.
Following Mr Baumgarten's appointment as President in 1999, WTTC undertook a major strategic review. This led to the re-affirmation of WTTC's mission and the launch of a new policy framework, Seven Strategic Priorities, for sustainable travel and tourism development. The fourth of these priorities is to encourage free access, open markets, open skies and the removal of barriers to growth.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
