eTN’s recent article on the European Tourism Day returning after five years without WTTC unexpectedly triggered a heated discussion on the current state of the World Travel and Tourism Council.
Members, associates, and former executives in the organization spoke out “off the record.”
After concluding a very successful WTTC Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the world of tourism is again united, more significant, and better. This was the message from the Riyadh summit, but it may have been wishful thinking regarding UNWTO and WTTC.
After the summit, the global world of tourism has not heard much from WTTC, except for some mostly automatic social media posts and press statements, such as announcing outsourced research and promoting a brochure on illegal wildlife from July 2021.
Did you know that travel is good for your mental health?
This was one of the prominent tweets by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), referring to World Health Organization research.
Insiders told eTurboNews that a team by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Tourism was the driving force behind making the 2022 SUMMIT in Riyadh last November a big success.
“Without this team at the Ministry of Tourism, the summit would have failed,” was feedback from one of the individuals with knowledge about the event. “Thanks to the support by the ministry WTTC can now take credit for the largest, best, and most impressive Summit ever.”
WTTC Members are concerned
A source told eTurboNews that WTTC members and former associates are increasingly concerned about ineffective leadership, favoritism, and purchases not directly benefiting the organization.
Saudi Arabia became the most influential emerging country in the world for the travel and tourism industry.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) opened a regional center in Riyadh.
In the meantime, UNWTO keeps gaining visibility, while the organization’s Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili remains hardly accessible to people other than ministers. His public appearance concentrates on official photo opportunities.
UNWTO is a politically motivated UN-affiliated agency. Countries are members.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), however, is a private membership organization with some of the largest global travel and tourism companies, such as Marriott, TUI, and other giants of the industry as members.
How WTTC started?
It all started in the late 1980s when a group of industry Chairs and CEOs, led by James Robinson III – then Chairman and CEO of American Express – realized that, although Travel & Tourism was the largest industry in the world, the biggest provider of jobs, few in the industry, let alone within governments, were not aware of this.
It’s expensive for companies to join WTTC. There is usually no government funding.
For years WTTC demonstrated clear leadership for the private travel sector.
Under Dr. Taleb Rifai, the previous UNWTO secretary-general, WTTC, and UNWTO were like Siamese twins, coordinating every step and effectively steering the direction of global tourism both in the private and public sectors.
At that time, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) presented Open Letters to 89 Heads of State and Governments, outlining the value of this sector as the largest generator of jobs and a powerful driver of socioeconomic growth and sustainable development in the world.
This close cooperation between the two organizations ended after Zurab took the helm at UNWTO on January 1, 2018.
Read more: Is WTTC and its CEO in Trouble?
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