Membership in UN Tourism:
– UN Tourism has 160 Member States
– Six associate members: Aruba, Flanders, Hong Kong, Macao, Madeira, and Puerto Rico
– Two observers: Holy See (1979), Palestine (1999)
– Over 500 affiliate members
– Russia announced its exit in April 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Publications in UN Tourism:
– UNWTO Annual Report
– UN Tourism World Tourism Barometer
– UNWTO Declarations
– Knowledge Network Issues Paper Series
Tourism Data Dashboard in UN Tourism:
– Provides statistics on inbound and outbound tourism
– Covers tourist arrivals, tourism’s GDP contribution, source markets, and more
– Offers insights at global, regional, and national levels
Visa Openness Report in UN Tourism:
– G20 economies could boost international tourist numbers by 122 million
– Tourism exports could increase by US$2016 billion
– Employment could rise by 5 million
– In 2016, the highest percentage of tourists didn’t need visas (39%)
– Listed the 30 countries with the least visa restrictions in 2015
Further Reading and External Links related to UN Tourism:
– Jafari, J. (1974) – Creation of the intergovernmental world tourism organization
– United Nations General Assembly (1969) – General assembly – twenty-fourth session
– United Nations World Tourism Organization (2007) – About UNWTO
– World Tourism Organization (2003) – WTO news, 2003 (3)
– World Tourism Organization changed its abbreviation to UNWTO in 2005
– Wikimedia Commons has media related to UNWTO.
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
UN Tourism (UNWTO until 2023) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which promotes responsible, sustainable and universally-accessible tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. Other offices include: a Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific in Nara, Japan and a Regional Office for the Middle East in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
 | |
_01.jpg) UN Tourism headquarters, Madrid, Spain. | |
| Abbreviation | UN Tourism |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1 November 1975 |
| Type | United Nations specialized agency |
| Legal status | Active |
| Headquarters | Madrid, Spain |
Membership | 160 Member States |
Secretary-General | Zurab Pololikashvili |
Parent organization | United Nations |
| Website | www.unwto.org |
 Politics portal | |
UN Tourism serves as a global forum for tourism policy and a source of tourism research and knowledge. It encourages tourism competitiveness, innovation, education, investments and digital transformation. The organization also focusses on ethics, culture and social responsibility related to tourism, provides technical cooperation and includes a UN Tourism Academy and statistics work.
The six official languages of UN Tourism are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism stood at an all-time high: 1 out of 10 jobs worldwide depended on tourism and international tourist arrivals reached 1.5 billion in 2019. Against a backdrop of heightened uncertainty, UN Tourism conveyed the Global Tourism Crisis Committee to guide the tourism sector as it faced up to the COVID-19 challenge.
From its inception in 1975 until 2023, UN Tourism was called the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).