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The Best African Countries to
Visit for vacation in
2019
Jan 17, 2019 - Morocco.
Located in Northern Africa, Morocco has
so much to offer.
Zambia. Zambia is
a gorgeous country which has so much to see.
Tanzania. Tanzania is
a country rich with nature reserves and natural beauty.
South Africa. South
Africa is
an adventure lover's ...
1. Morocco
2. Zambia
3. Tanzania
4. South Africa
5. Namibia
6. Madagascar
7. Botswana
8. Cote d’Ivoire
The UN World Tourism Outlook and WTO Tourism Code of Ethics
 With the intention of protecting the earth's natural environment and cultural heritage from the non-stop growth of international tourism, world leaders approved a Global Code of Ethics for Tourism during a summit meeting in Santiago. The code, developed by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), sets out a 10-point blueprint for safeguarding the resources upon which tourism depends and for ensuring that more of the skyrocketing profits from tourism benefit residents of tourism destinations.
"With international tourism forecast to nearly triple in volume in the first 20 years of the next century, we felt that the Code of Ethics was needed to ensure the sustainability of our industry," said WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli.  Photo: Watch for our story featuring Globe and environmental concerns for Canada's remote areas (above) including the Arctic tundra.
The Global Code of Ethics for Tourism includes nine articles outlining the 'rules of the game` for destinations, governments, tour operators, developers, travel agents, workers and travellers themselves. The tenth article involves the redress of grievances through the creation of a World Committee on Tourism Ethics. For example, travellers are required to learn about the customs, health hazards and security risks of countries they are preparing to visit before departure, while destinations and tourism professionals are held responsible for repatriating tourists in the case of the bankruptcy of a travel service provider.
Investors and public authorities are required to carry out environmental impact studies before beginning tourism development projects and to involve local residents. Other articles involve the rights of workers in the tourism industry and the freedom of movement of people across national boundaries. The code was developed after extensive consultation with governments, trade associations, labour unions, private sector companies and non-governmental organizations. It marks the first time that a document of this type will have a mechanism for enforcement, which will be based on conciliation through the World Committee on Tourism Ethics.
The five-day WTO General Assembly, held in Santiago from September 27 to October 1, attracted some 800 delegates from 110 nations around the world-including 60 ministers or secretaries of state for tourism. Other items on the agenda included a day-long session on Tourism & Cyberspace and the release of a new study published by the WTO Business Council Marketing Tourism Destinations in the Information Age. "Internet is the perfect medium for public-private cooperation in tourism and it is revolutionizing all aspects of the tourism sector," said Business Council CEO Jose Luis Zoreda. Delegates also endorsed a new system for accurately measuring the economic impact of tourism activity called the Tourism Satellite Account and urged member nations to begin implementing the system as a way of raising awareness about the vital role of tourism in their national economies. "The meetings surpassed our expectations, both in the quantity of high-level participants and the quality of the topics debated-all of them relevant to preparing our tourism sector for the next millennium," said Cesar Gomez, director of Chile's national tourism service SERNATUR, which hosted the General Assembly. Swaziland and Hong Kong (China) were approved as new members of the organization. Tourism for peace
In a first of its kind decision, Japan and South Korea agreed to jointly host WTO's next General Assembly in the cities of Osaka and Seoul in 2001-just one year before the two countries are to jointly host the World Cup football championships. "More than anything else we will try to translate the theme of 'peace through tourism' into practice through the joint hosting of the General Assembly," said South Korea's Vice Minister for Tourism and Culture Soon-Kyu Kim, adding that he hoped the international meeting would focus world attention on reunification of the divided Korean peninsula. WTO has received bids from Croatia and Nigeria to host the General Assembly of 2003. In addition, Germany was chosen to host World Tourism Day festivities on September 27 next year in conjunction with the Universal Expo in Hanover under the theme of Technology and Nature: Two Challenges for Tourism at the Dawn of the 21st Century. Iran will host World Tourism Day celebrations in 2001 with the theme of Tourism: A Tool for Peace and Dialogue among Civilizations in association with UNESCO's declaration of 2001 as the 'Year of Dialogue'. For further information contact:
Deborah Luhrman
Tel. (34) 91-567-8100
Fax (34) 91-567-8218
Email: dluhrman@world-tourism.org | 
