Part IX. Regulation, Research and

(UNWTO)

Website http://www.unwto.org/

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), based in Madrid, Spain, is a United Nations agency dealing with questions relating to tourism. It compiles the World Tourism Rankings. The World Tourism Organization is a significant global body, concerned with the collection and collation of statistical information on international tourism. This organization represents public sector tourism bodies, from most countries in the world and the publication of its data makes possible comparisons of the flow and growth of tourism on a global scale. The official languages of UNWTO are Arabic, English, French, Russian and ‎Spanish. ‎

Organizational Aims

United Nations World Tourism Organization plays a role in promoting the development of responsible, ‎sustainable and universally accessible tourism, paying particular attention to the ‎interests of developing countries‎.

The Organization encourages the implementation ‎of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, with a view to ensuring that member ‎countries, tourist destinations and businesses maximize the positive economic, ‎social and cultural effects of tourism and fully reap its benefits, while minimizing its ‎negative social and environmental impacts.

UNWTO is committed to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, geared ‎toward reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development.

History

The origin of the United Nation World Tourism Organization stems back to 1925 when the International Congress of Official Tourist Traffic Associations (ICOTT) was formed at The Hague. In 1934 the ICOTT became the International Union of Official Tourist Propaganda Organizations (IUOTPO). Following the end of the Second World War and with international travel numbers increasing, the IUOTPO restructured itself into the International Union of Official Travel Organizations (IUOTO). A technical, non-governmental organization, the IUOTO was made up of a combination of national tourist organizations, industry and consumer groups. The goals and objectives of the IUOTO were to not only promote tourism in general but also to extract the best out of tourism as an international trade component and as an economic development strategy for developing nations.

Towards the end of the 1960’s, the IUOTO realized the need for further transformation to enhance its role on an international level in cooperation with other international agencies, in particular the United Nations.

In 1970, the IUOTO general assembly voted in favor of forming the World Tourism Organization (WTO), based on statutes of the IUOTO, and the WTO came into operation on November 1, 1974. Most recently, at the fifteenth general assembly in 2003, the WTO general council and the UN agreed to establish the WTO as a specialized agency of the UN.

As of 2007, its membership included 150 countries, seven territories and some 350 affiliate members, representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities. The frequent confusion between the two WTOs – World Tourism Organization and the Geneva-based World Trade Organization – officially ended on 1 December 2005, when the General Assembly approved to add the letters UN (for United Nations) to the start of abbreviation of the leading international tourism body in English and in Russian. UNWTO abbreviation remains OMT in French and Spanish.

Structure

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. Its ordinary ‎sessions, held every two years, are attended by delegates of the Full and Associate ‎Members, as well as representatives from the Business Council.‎ It is the most important meeting of senior tourism officials and high-level ‎representatives of the private sector from all over the world. ‎

Regional Commissions ‎

‎ Established in 1975 as subsidiary organs of the General Assembly, the six Regional ‎Commissions normally meet once a year. They enable member States to maintain ‎contact with one another and with the Secretariat between sessions of the General ‎Assembly, to which they submit their proposals and convey their concerns. Each ‎Commission elects one Chairman and its Vice-Chairmen from among its Members ‎for a term of two years commencing from one session to the next session of the ‎Assembly.‎‎

Executive Council ‎

‎The Executive Council's task is to take all necessary measures, in consultation with ‎the Secretary-General, for the implementation of its own decisions and ‎recommendations of the Assembly and report thereon to the Assembly.‎ The Council meets at least twice a year.‎ ‎The Council consists of Full Members elected by the Assembly in the proportion of ‎one Member for every five Full Members, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure ‎laid down by the Assembly with a view to achieving fair and equitable geographical ‎distribution.‎ The term of office of Members elected to the Council is four years and elections for ‎one-half of the Council membership are held every two years. Spain is a Permanent ‎Member of the Executive Council.‎

Committees ‎

· ‎World Committee on Tourism;

· Ethics ‎Program Committee;

· ‎Committee on Budget and Finance;

· ‎Committee on Market and Competitiveness;

· Committee on Statistics and the Tourism Satellite account;

· Sustainable Development of Tourism Committee;

· Committee on Poverty;

· Reduction Committee for the Review of Applications for Affiliate Membership.

Secretariat

The Secretariat is led by Secretary-General ad interim Taleb Rifai of Jordan, who ‎supervises about 110 full-time staff at UNWTO's Madrid Headquarters. He is assisted ‎by the Deputy Secretary-General. These officials are responsible ‎for implementing UNWTO's program of work and serving the needs of Members. ‎The Affiliate Members are supported by a full-time Executive Director at the ‎Madrid Headquarters. The ‎Secretariat also includes a regional support office for Asia-Pacific in Osaka, Japan, ‎financed by the Japanese Government.

Research and Development

Research is defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe. Research can use the scientific method, but need not do so.

Scientific research relies on the application of the scientific method, a harnessing of curiosity. This research provides scientific information and theories for the explanation of the nature and the properties of the world around us. It makes practical applications possible. Scientific research is funded by public authorities, by charitable organizations and by private groups, including many companies. Scientific research can be subdivided into different classifications according to their academic and application disciplines.

Etymology

The word research derives from the French rechercher that means 'to investigate thoroughly'. The term research is also used to describe an entire collection of information about a particular subject.

Basic Research

Basic research (also called fundamental or pure research) has as its primary objective the advancement of knowledge and the theoretical understanding of the relations among variables. It is exploratory and often driven by the researcher’s curiosity, interest, and intuition. Therefore, it is sometimes conducted without any practical end in mind, although it may have confounding variables (unexpected results) pointing to practical applications. The terms “basic” or “fundamental” indicate that, through theory generation, basic research provides the foundation for further, sometimes applied research. As there is no guarantee of short-term practical gain, researchers may find it difficult to obtain funding for basic research.

Research Methods

The goal of the research process is to produce new knowledge, which takes three main forms (although the boundaries between them may be fuzzy):

· exploratory research, which structures and identifies new problems;

· constructive research, which develops solutions to a problem;

· empirical research, which tests the feasibility of a solution using empirical evidence.

Research can also fall into two distinct types:

· primary research,

· secondary research.

Research is often conducted using the hourglass model Structure of Research. The hourglass model starts with a broad spectrum for research, focusing in on the required information through the methodology of the project (like the neck of the hourglass), then expands the research in the form of discussion and results.

Research Processes

Generally, research is understood to follow a certain structural process. Though step order may vary depending on the subject matter and researcher, the following steps are usually part of most formal research, both basic and applied:

· formation of the topic;

· hypothesis;

· conceptual definitions;

· operational definitions;

· gathering of data;

· analysis of data;

· test, revising of hypothesis;

· conclusion, iteration if necessary.

Research Funding

Most funding for scientific research comes from two major sources, corporations (through research and development departments) and government (primarily through universities and in some cases through military contractors). Many senior researchers (such as group leaders) spend more than a trivial amount of their time applying for grants for research funds. These grants are necessary not only for researchers to carry out their research, but also as a source of merit.

The roles of government are vital to tourism. First, govern­ments generally set the policy of their country, state, or locality toward tourism. They also regulate the different components of the industry on the day-to-day basis. Second, they perform re­search and analysis that result in statistics on the tourism industry. Third, they are often involved in the development of tourism in their areas. This is especially true in the developing countries, but it occurs in industrialized areas as well. Fourth, governments are actively engaged in promoting a flow of tourists to their regions with advertising or public relations techniques.

In many countries, tourism is so important that its interests are represented at the ministerial level of government. Even in countries where the tourist industry has less economic importance, there is usually a tourist bureau with official or semi-official status. In the United States there is a Travel Bureau in the Department of Commerce.

One of the ways in which countries or regions can promote tourism is by relaxing the kind of regulation that usually comes under the heading of 'red tape'. Travel is made easier when there are no visa requirements and when the entry formalities are sim­ple.

National policy can also discourage tourism. In some cases, this may work to prevent the country's nationals from travelling out­ward. Any country can discourage incoming tourism simply by not providing accommodation and catering services, setting visa and entrance requirements that severely restrict entry, or by restrict­ing the length of time a traveler can stay in that country.

Governments at all levels are also involved in day-to-day regu­lation of the tourist facilities within their jurisdictions. The regu­lation generally begins with the construction of facilities when the builders have met the provisions of the local building code. It e: tends to various kinds of licensing requirements once the business is in operation. Catering establishments must be inspected periodically in most localities to ensure that they maintain standards of cleanliness.

One of the principal purposes for the existence of either official or semi-official tourist bureaus is to gather travel statistics. The arrival cards that are a customary feature of international travel are the basis for many of the statistics. Departure cards are also required in several countries in order to get more accurate figures on the length of the tourist's stay. These forms are also known as embarkation and disembarkation cards.

Research in tourism involves: checking on tourist expendi­tures, finding out the purpose of the trip or the tourist's reaction to his vacation, determination of the social impact of tourism on the area.

Many countries have become involved in the development of tourism through direct financial investment. In some cases, build­ers and operators are allowed to run their facilities for as long as ten years without paying taxes. In other cases, taxes can be re­duced or payment can be postponed until the operation is return­ing a profit. Of course, governments are not acting merely out of generosity in giving out such benefits, since their own revenues increase in the long run as a result of the money brought in by tourism. Even where government investment is not direct, there must be an indirect investment in the form of building or improv­ing the infrastructure. The infrastructure consists of those things that are necessary before development can take place — roads, sewers, electricity, telephone service, airports, and water supply. Another way in which government encourages tourism is through training programs for service personnel. Many governments insti­tute such programs in order to have people available to fill the jobs generated by tourism.

Before a government undertakes tourist development, it usu­ally attempts to determine the market potential — the number or percentage of travelers it can hope to attract. This is followed by studies of the social impact and very often of the environmental impact — what tourism will do to the natural surroundings. The research is followed by the actual planning and development that include improvement of the infrastructure, financial arrange­ments, and construction of the superstructure.