The head of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) announced today that he is stepping down at the start of next year to ensure a smooth transition before the scheduled end of his final term in office.
The number of international tourists continues to climb, with 898 million arrivals registered last year and further increases expected as traditionally poor countries emerge as more popular tourist destinations, according to the latest United Nations snapshot.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has allocated additional resources and realigned its work programme for the years 2008/2009 to help better face the challenges of natural and man-made disasters to a market that last year registered 842 million arrivals.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has announced that it will try to make all travel, accommodation and activities related to a climate change conference it is staging in early October “carbon neutral” to set an example about the benefits of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions.
Expanding its effort to help international tourism respond to natural or man-made disasters, a United Nations agency has unveiled a new Internet portal in collaboration with Microsoft that will eventually provide round-the-clock tracking of emergencies such as bird flu or conflict from the travel perspective.
The United Nations tourism agency has teamed up with Microsoft to use information technology to improve the industry’s competitiveness and quality in developing countries, especially in Africa which at present accounts for only 4 per cent of international tourism.
Action film hero Jackie Chan, whose hands, feet and stunts have vanquished so many villains on the silver screen, has a new battle to win as the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) first “Asia-Pacific Tourism Ambassador.”
International tourist arrivals in Africa grew by 10 per cent last year – nearly twice as fast as the world average – but the continent still gets only a 4 per cent share of international tourism, according to a United Nations agency which gathered African officials today in Mali to address the problem.
