REPORT – UNWTO GENERAL ASSEMBLY – ASTANA: Around 360 delegates representing 112 countries meet this week in Astana, Kazakhstan, on the occasion of the XVIII session of the UNWTO General Assembly. The gathering convened by the UN specialized agency for tourism will set the ground for how the travel and tourism sector can face the current economic downturn while staying on track with the twin challenges of climate change response and poverty alleviation. This Assembly will also initiate a far-reaching internal reform, starting with the election of a new Secretary-General…
REPORT – UNWTO GENERAL ASSEMBLY – ASTANA: Around 360 delegates representing 112 countries meet this week in Astana, Kazakhstan, on the occasion of the XVIII session of the UNWTO General Assembly. The gathering convened by the UN specialized agency for tourism will set the ground for how the travel and tourism sector can face the current economic downturn while staying on track with the twin challenges of climate change response and poverty alleviation. This Assembly will also initiate a far-reaching internal reform, starting with the election of a new Secretary-General.
Tourism Ministers and senior officials from National Tourism Organizations around the world, as well as public, private and academic Affiliate Members, will discuss the UNWTO Roadmap for Recovery, which is at the centre of the general debate of this Assembly.
The General Assembly will stress the potential of the travel and tourism sector to play an essential role in post crisis recovery by providing jobs, infrastructure, stimulating trade and development and should be a key consideration at future global economic summits. Against this backdrop, the Roadmap calls on world leaders to place tourism and travel at the core of stimulus packages and the transformation to the Green Economy.
Other key issues to be addressed include, among others, the facilitation of tourist travel, pandemic preparedness in the framework of Influenza A(H1N1), and technical cooperation to promote sustainable development through travel and tourism.
The 18th Session of the UNWTO General Assembly will be solemnly inaugurated by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Tabel Rifai appointed Secretary – General
The UNWTO General Assembly voted by acclamation for Tabel Rifai to be the next Secretary General, ratifying the recommendation of the Organizatin’s Executive Council at its 85th session meeting in Mali earlier this year. His four year mandate period will start at Junuary 2010, and Mr Rifai will became the fifth Secretary General of the UN’s tourism agency and the first one from the arab world, as his origin is from Jordan.
Mr Rifai has served as Secretery General ad interim since March 2009, and had previously been Deputy Secrety General since February 2006. He also has served as Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Jordan.
"Tourism is at a crossroads. With current economic realities intensifying long-term global challenges such as poverty alleviation and climate changes, UNWTO, as the leading global tourism organisation should take stock of its strengths, consolidate its achievements, acknowledge its shortcomings and move to address the challenges ahead”. Also, the new Secretary General called for the need to consolitae and expand UNWTO membership at the same time as ensuring that the value of UNWTO be clear and evident. Finally, he said he will introduce a major revision of the structure of Affiliate Members to enable them to become meaningful representatives on non-govermental stakeholders.
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