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The future of international tourism and the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism : does tourism need an internationally recognized deontology ?

Francesco FRANGIALLI - General Secretary of the World Tourism Organization

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The laws of science do not, any more than those of the Stock Market, appear to apply to tourism. Twenty-five million international arrivals in 1950, 165 million in 1970, some 700 million in 2000 and 1.5 billion forecast for 2020 : tourism’s growth, even if it seems to be slowing down somewhat, is not approaching any asymptote ; there is no evidence of saturation of demand, at least on a global level ; and the adage dear to financial traders, «no trees rise to the sky», has not so far been borne out by the facts in this sector.

At the same time, like those gases that physics tells us tend, when the conditions are right, to fill all the space available to them, tourism is spreading far and wide ; in other words it is becoming globalized. In 1950 the top fifteen destinations in the world accounted for 87 per cent of foreign visitor arrivals, in 1970 for no more than 75 per cent and in 1999 for only 62 per cent. When there is too much pressure on a region, tourists travel to another, neighbouring or comparable, region : it is what could be called : Mariotte’s law of tourism.

Few places on this planet escape the curiosity of its inhabitants, as observed more than a century and a half ago by François-René de Chateaubriand who, marvelling at the geographical discoveries of his time, wrote : not a single corner of our dwelling place is unknown. For the complete exploration of Earth has not sated men’s appetite for research and adventure or their desire to discover the customs of those that are like them – or unlike them. In actual fact, tourism is not dead, it has been reborn, echoing the famous words of Paul Valéry, and so begins the time of the finite world.

Besides man’s insatiable curiosity about the world in which he lives, three developments caused international tourism to explode and then become widespread: the increase in purchasing power, and in discretionary income in particular, of middle- and working-class households in the developed world; access to the private motor car and cheap air transport; and the expansion of free time, regulated and developed in many countries by social legislation in favour of employees. Benjamin Disraeli was to write in the nineteenth century : «Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man».
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Who would not delight in the tourism revolution of the twentieth century ? A revolution as creative and important perhaps as the industrial revolution that began two centuries earlier and that has been described by Arnold Toynbee, Paul Mantoux and John U. Nef, and whose traces can be found in this very building.

In the past fifty years tourism and leisure, the basic components of a booming service sector, have, without our always immediately realizing it, been a potent factor of economic development in the countries of Europe and North America with a long industrial tradition. The developing countries of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America have, in their turn, reaped the benefits: they have discovered that wherever tourism advances poverty retreats.

An important contributor to the balance of payments, tourism has proved to be a prodigious creator of value added, wealth and jobs. It has opened up, especially in the countries of the South, new prospects for entrepreneurship and individual fulfilment. As one of the rare activities capable of replacing traditional farming, which is fast disappearing, or a changing manufacturing industry, it has provided an effective opportunity for economic revival and redeployment of manpower in declining regions. At the same time, it has offered new openings for traditional activities (local agriculture and fishing, handicrafts and building) that were desperately seeking them, enabling them to survive.

Tourism development’s function as a factor of both social and cultural integration has also been remarkable. At once the manifestation and instrument of increasingly widely shared cultural attitudes and consumer habits, tourism has fostered the growing unity of society and helped to integrate within it those who could otherwise have been excluded. Since it promotes encounters and dialogue between visitors and hosts and notwithstanding the difficulties of such relations, it has furthered their knowledge of each other and the mutual recognition of individuals and groups alike in both national communities and the ever-more extensive international trade it has generated.
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Is this set to continue ? Should we expect the indefinite advance, clearly beneficial but unbridled, of world tourism ? As things stand at present, this is undoubtedly the most likely scenario, given that the democratization of transport is so attractive and in view of people’s strong inclinations towards leisure activities and their appetite for discovery, whetted by the enticements of modern means of communication.

As I said here last year, such a form of exponential growth would surely be unacceptable to many. For it is society as a whole that takes a pitiless battering from tourism development. Already international air transport, transformed by global alliances between airlines, is seriously disrupted by crowded skies and airport facilities, as a consequence not only of the vertiginous increase in traffic but also of poorly controlled deregulation. The physical environment and host communities are already suffering from the anarchic development of certain sites or the unrestrained exploitation of certain destinations. While the pressure is mounting, there are obvious signs of rejection. The World Tourism Organization has denounced these excesses on a great many occasions, notably in Manila in 1997, but perhaps not audibly enough.

Again, let me hark back to what I said last year in this respect and let us imagine the consequences – for the most part intolerable - that a tripling of flows in the space of a generation (1995-2020), predicted by WTO, would bring in its wake if not properly managed: unbearable pressure on natural environments, fragile areas, coastlines and mountains ; serious congestion in city centres and overcrowding at the most popular sites and monuments ; inadequate transport infrastructure, public facilities and services ; mounting demands, competing with those of local populations, on water and energy resources ; outmoded training systems ; and local cultures and traditions under threat. What will happen in 2020 when international visitor arrivals exceed 1.5 billion and those of national tourists are greater still ?
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These problems evoke the essence of what I believe should be our common vision: the highly fruitful inputs from tourism and its potential for growth, viewed against the background of a global market economy and increased free trade, fully warrant mobilizing the necessary resources and removing the obstacles likely to impede its expansion; at the same time, the serious risks it poses - as the cloud brings the storm, to take an image from Scripture – call for measures to regulate its growth, plan its development and ruthlessly combat the abuses that it inevitably engenders in its blind march forward.

Liberalization that is encouraged but controlled, consistent with the need for sustainable development : this, to my mind, is the heart of the message that we should impart at the dawn of the third millennium.

As Mr James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, so aptly remarked at the joint meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held at Prague at the end of September 2000, the «challenge is to make globalization an instrument of opportunity and inclusion - not of fear and insecurity.»
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This vision for the future and the underlying philosophy are not new. They were emphatically asserted by WTO’s General Assembly when it adopted the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism by consensus in 1999.

Allow me to briefly describe the historical context in which this initiative should be seen. As many of you know, since 1997 the World Tourism Organization (WTO) – an organization related to the United Nations System – has taken a lead role in championing this instrument. At its session in New York in April 1999, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development endorsed the concept of a code of ethics for world tourism and asked WTO to involve government and private-sector representatives, NGOs and labour organizations in its preparation. We did so; all relevant views were reflected in the document adopted by consensus by more than 100 countries at the Santiago Assembly in 1999. The Code before you today represents the culmination of an extensive – and delicate - process of consensus-building. This was no small achievement.
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The ambition of the WTO Code of Ethics is to accentuate a set of truly shared and universal values. The Code spells out, in a balanced way, the respective rights and obligations of all those who are stakeholders in the tourism industry. On the one hand, it sets out to minimize the negative impact of tourism on the environment, host communities and the cultural heritage. On the other, it sets out to maximize the potential benefits for the residents of the areas visited as well as for the private sector of both tourist-receiving and generating countries.

The Code resolutely reflects a desire to promote «the market economy, private enterprise and free trade» in order to allow the world tourism industry «to optimize its beneficial effects on the creation of wealth and employment».

Its Preamble contains a paragraph that sums up well the resolve that inspired the Code and the ambition to excel that characterizes it : «Also firmly convinced that, provided a number of principles and a certain number of rules are observed, responsible and sustainable tourism is by no means incompatible with the growing liberalization of the conditions governing trade in services and under whose aegis the enterprises of this sector operate and that it is possible to reconcile in this sector economy and ecology, environment and development, openness to international trade and protection of social and cultural identities.»

The Code therefore calls for the cultural, social and environmental aspects of liberalization to be kept under control. It would be wrong to justify, in the name of the freedom of tourism trade, the irreversible deterioration of sites, the over-use of natural resources, the impairment of biodiversity, the degradation of historic monuments through overcrowding, the unlimited exploitation of workers uprooted from the areas around resorts, the decline in cultural production and craftmanship and organized sex tourism involving children.
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Since the famous Manila Declaration was adopted in 1980 under the auspices of WTO, many instruments – bills of rights, codes and declarations – have marked the history of world tourism. The new Code was ambitious in its aim : to make a synthesis of these various documents and to supplement it «with new considerations reflecting the development of our societies and thus to serve as a frame of reference for the actors in world tourism at the dawn of the next century and millennium.»

Some people will regard, if not with derision at least with scepticism, the plan to establish at once a frame of reference and rules of the game common to all countries with a tourism vocation and to all the sector’s partners.

The fact remains however that the new Code fulfils a genuine need and was adopted by consensus between the 107 countries (out of the 130 that make up WTO) that participated in our Assembly, notwithstanding their unequal development and cultural, political and religious differences.

The underlying philosophy of the document has been mentioned earlier. Its general tone makes it possible to spell out, in a balanced way, the rights and obligations of the various partners that together make up the tourism industry, beginning with the symmetrical and complementary rules incumbent on those that visit and those that receive.

The expression of such ideas is not altogether new. The freedom and right to travel, to benefit from leisure time, and to have access to arts and culture are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and, in more humorous vein, John Steinbeck was to write in 1956: besides the fact that they leave behind their economies wherever they go, I believe that tourists are very useful to the modern world: it is very difficult to hate the people one knows. Some of the principles embodied in the new Code are found in the Manila Declaration of 1980 or in the Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code adopted by WTO at its General Assembly session at Sofia in 1985.

It may simply be said that the Code goes considerably farther in certain areas than its predecessors. And so, building on the «right to freedom of travel and tourism» laid down at Manila, the Code solemnly affirms that «the prospect of direct and personal access to the discovery and enjoyment of the planet’s resources» is recognized as «a right equally open to all the world’s inhabitants».

The Code is ambitious insofar as it encompasses a broad range of subjects, economic, cultural, environmental and social. It includes, for example, an outright ban on the sexual exploitation of children in the tourism sector, and it is in this spirit that WTO will report in two weeks’ time to the Yokohama world congress against the exploitation of children on the efforts it is making with the assistance of the European Union to protect children from, not tourism, but rather a perversion of tourism. The Code underlines the social and cultural dimensions of tourism and advocates the involvement of host communities in development projects, at a time when we and the entire United Nations family are preparing next year’s World Summit on Sustainable Development. It recognizes the value of ecotourism, which we would do well to emphasize in the light of the preparations under way for the celebration of the «International Year of Ecotourism» in 2002. The Code highlights the importance of contractual transparency and the need to provide consumers with reliable, honest and readily understandable information; it advocates the staggering of tourist flows both in space and time; it encourages North-South dialogue and emphasizes the specific responsibility of multinationals in the sector in this respect.

Tourism is expected to see rapid development, hence the growing need for adherence to clear and commonly recognized guidelines as to what is, and what is not, acceptable conduct. Pressure and constraints on the environment and local communities have increased and will continue to increase, hence the need to ensure stronger respect for a certain number of rules and principles. From this perspective, the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism not only mirrors shared values, but is also a source of normative guidance for the many actors whose involvement is crucial if tourism is to evolve in a manner that is equitable and beneficial for everyone concerned.
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Your consideration of the Global Code of Ethics is also an occasion to recall one of the key principles that gave rise to the establishment of the World Tourism Organization: the signal contribution of tourism to peace and to understanding among peoples of the world, as highlighted in Article 3 of the WTO Statutes.

Two weeks ago, I presented the Code to the United Nations General Assembly, which has solemnly taken it into consideration. In New York, not only a hub of economic and financial activity, but also of culture and international tourism, and a city that is still reeling under the impact of the appalling attack of 11 September, I recalled a section of the Code, drafted well before this tragedy took place: «... any attacks, assaults, kidnappings or threats against tourists or workers in the tourism industry, as well as the wilful destruction of tourism facilities or of elements of cultural or natural heritage should be severely condemned and punished…».
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Open and balanced relations between responsible partners, a growing liberalization of tourism trade that is consistent with the need for sustainable development, the unflagging pursuit of peace ; these are the considerations underlying the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.
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This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the ambition and the spirit, briefly summarized, of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism hereby submitted for your consideration. Allow me to conclude by informing you of the developments that have taken place since the Code was debated by ECOSOC in Geneva last July.

The fourteenth session of the World Tourism Organization’s General Assembly took place at the end of September – beginning of October in Seoul and Osaka. One of the decisions taken and unanimously adopted at this Assembly calls for the immediate creation of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics, which will be responsible for monitoring and coordinating the implementation of the Code, pending the establishment of a flexible and voluntary mechanism for settling disputes, the principle of which was decided on at Santiago. At the same time, a growing number of countries have been incorporating all or part of this instrument in their national laws and in the commercial practices of their enterprises.

I would also draw your attention to the numerous endorsements our initiative has received in recent months. On the occasion of the ECOSOC debate, the member countries of the European Union and those in the process of joining the Union heartily supported the Code. Likewise, the tourism ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, at their meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 12 and 13 October, stressed the importance they attach to the principles laid down in the Code. With this document, «the dialogue between cultures» is clearly prevailing over the so-called «clash of civilizations». Two groups of countries, Europe and the Arab-Muslim world, that are separated by many diverging features, both economic and social, have become united, with other countries, around a shared vision of a sustainable and balanced development of responsible tourism.

I would also draw your attention to the message delivered by His Holiness Pope John Paul II on the occasion of World Tourism Day 2001, in which he stressed that the Code – I quote - «(…) is an important step towards ensuring that tourism is seen not just as one among many economic activities, but as a privileged means for the development of individuals and peoples». Likewise, Mr. Nelson Mandela, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, addressed a message to our Millennium Conference in Osaka in which he stressed the importance of ensuring that «the principles of sustainable development of tourism, on which the Code is based, form part of the discussions at the next Earth Summit that will be held in Johannesburg in 2002».
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Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

By way of conclusion, allow me to express my sincere hope that we will not allow our deep concerns over the short-term future of the world tourism industry to eclipse the need for sustainable tourism development in the medium and long term.

The events that took place in New York and Washington on 11 September have taken a heavy toll on tourism. Along with air transport, a related industry, tourism has been affected more than any other branch of economic activity, hence our legitimate concern, first and foremost, for the destinations that are suffering and for the fate of enterprises and that of the hundreds of thousands of workers who are condemned to lose, at least temporarily, their jobs.

But this sector somehow has no choice but to forge ahead, an assertion borne out by the conclusions of the meeting of our Crisis Committee in London on 11 November. Man’s thirst for discovery, his need to travel for professional reasons, but also his need to take a break from work and indulge in relaxation and leisure, are deeply-rooted and inescapable facets of our society. External shocks can seriously disturb tourism activity ; they can alter the distribution of tourism in time and space ; but they cannot make it grind to a halt. International tourism will therefore bounce back, come what may, and doubtless as from the end of next year. Despite the brutality of this recent attack on tourism, the industry will recover the strong growth levels that characterized it

before this crisis and it is on account of this foreseeable – I would say unavoidable – growth that the principles embodied in the Global Code of Ethics remain entirely forceful and valid today.

Thank you.

Global Code of Ethics for Tourism ^*i*

PREAMBLE

We, Members of the World Tourism Organization (WTO), representatives of the world tourism industry, delegates of States, territories, enterprises, institutions and bodies that are gathered for the General Assembly at Santiago, Chile on this first day of October 1999,

Reasserting the aims set out in Article 3 of the Statutes of the World Tourism Organization, and aware of the “decisive and central” role of this Organization, as recognized by the General Assembly of the United Nations, in promoting and developing tourism with a view to contributing to economic development, international understanding, peace, prosperity and universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion,

Firmly believing that, through the direct, spontaneous and non-mediatized contacts it engenders between men and women of different cultures and lifestyles, tourism represents a vital force for peace and a factor of friendship and understanding among the peoples of the world,

In keeping with the rationale of reconciling environmental protection, economic development and the fight against poverty in a sustainable manner, as formulated by the United Nations in 1992 at the “Earth Summit” of Rio de Janeiro and expressed in Agenda 21, adopted on that occasion,

Taking into account the swift and continued growth, both past and foreseeable, of the tourism activity, whether for leisure, business, culture, religious or health purposes, and its powerful effects, both positive and negative, on the environment, the economy and the society of both generating and receiving countries, on local communities and indigenous peoples, as well as on international relations and trade,

Aiming to promote responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism in the framework of the right of all persons to use their free time for leisure pursuits or travel with respect for the choices of society of all peoples,

But convinced that the world tourism industry as a whole has much to gain by operating in an environment that favours the market economy, private enterprise and free trade and that serves to optimize its beneficial effects on the creation of wealth and employment,

Also firmly convinced that, provided a number of principles and a certain number of rules are observed, responsible and sustainable tourism is by no means incompatible with the growing liberalization of the conditions governing trade in services and under whose aegis the enterprises of this sector operate and that it is possible to reconcile in this sector economy and ecology, environment and development, openness to international trade and protection of social and cultural identities,

Considering that, with such an approach, all the stakeholders in tourism development – national, regional and local administrations, enterprises, business associations, workers in the sector, non-governmental organizations and bodies of all kinds belonging to the tourism industry, as well as host communities, the media and the tourists themselves, have different albeit interdependent responsibilities in the individual and societal development of tourism and that the formulation of their individual rights and duties will contribute to meeting this aim, Committed, in keeping with the aims pursued by the World Tourism Organization itself since adopting resolution 364(XII) at its General Assembly of 1997 (Istanbul), to promote a genuine partnership between the public and private stakeholders in tourism development, and wishing to see a partnership and cooperation of the same kind extend, in an open and balanced way, to the relations between generating and receiving countries and their respective tourism industries,

Following up on the Manila Declarations of 1980 on World Tourism and of 1997 on the Social Impact of Tourism, as well as on the Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code adopted at Sofia in 1985 under the aegis of WTO,

But believing that these instruments should be complemented by a set of interdependent principles for their interpretation and application on which the stakeholders in tourism development should model their conduct at the dawn of the twenty-first century,

Using, for the purposes of this instrument, the definitions and classifications applicable to travel, and especially the concepts of “visitor”, “tourist” and “tourism”, as adopted by the Ottawa International Conference, held from 24 to 28 June 1991 and approved, in 1993, by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its twenty-seventh session,

Referring in particular to the following instruments :

Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 ;

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 16 December 1966 ;

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 ;

Warsaw Convention on Air Transport of 12 October 1929 ;

Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation of 7 December 1944, and the Tokyo, The Hague and Montreal Conventions in relation thereto ;

Convention on Customs Facilities for Tourism of 4 July 1954 and related Protocol ;

Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 23 November 1972 ;

Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 10 October 1980 ;

Resolution of the Sixth General Assembly of WTO (Sofia) adopting the Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code of 26 September 1985 ;

Convention on the Rights of the Child of 26 January 1990 ;

Resolution of the Ninth General Assembly of WTO (Buenos Aires) concerning in particular travel facilitation and the safety and security of tourists of 4 October 1991 ;

Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development of 13 June 1992 ;

General Agreement on Trade in Services of 15 April 1994 ;

Convention on Biodiversity of 6 January 1995 ;

Resolution of the Eleventh General Assembly of WTO (Cairo) on the prevention of organized sex tourism of 22 October 1995 ;

Stockholm Declaration of 28 August 1996 against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children ;

Manila Declaration on the Social Impact of Tourism of 22 May 1997 ;

Conventions and recommendations adopted by the International Labour Organisation in the area of collective conventions, prohibition of forced labour and child labour, defence of the rights of indigenous peoples, and equal treatment and non-discrimination in the work place ;

affirm the right to tourism and the freedom of tourist movements, state our wish to promote an equitable, responsible and sustainable world tourism order, whose benefits will be shared by all sectors of society in the context of an open and liberalized international economy, and solemnly adopt to these ends the principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.

PRINCIPLES

Article 1 -Tourism’s contribution to mutual understanding and respect between peoples and societies

1. The understanding and promotion of the ethical values common to humanity, with an attitude of tolerance and respect for the diversity of religious, philosophical and moral beliefs, are both the foundation and the consequence of responsible tourism; stakeholders in tourism development and tourists themselves should observe the social and cultural traditions and practices of all peoples, including those of minorities and indigenous peoples and recognize their worth.

2. Tourism activities should be conducted in harmony with the attributes and traditions of the host regions and countries and in respect for their laws, practices and customs.

3. The host communities, on the one hand, and local professionals, on the other, should acquaint themselves with and respect the tourists who visit them and find out about their lifestyles, tastes and expectations ; the education and training imparted to professionals contribute to a hospitable welcome.

4. It is the task of the public authorities to provide protection for tourists and visitors and their belongings ; they must pay particular attention to the safety of foreign tourists owing to the particular vulnerability they may have ; they should facilitate the introduction of specific means of information, prevention, security, insurance and assistance consistent with their needs; any attacks, assaults, kidnappings or threats against tourists or workers in the tourism industry, as well as the wilful destruction of tourism facilities or of elements of cultural or natural heritage should be severely condemned and punished in accordance with their respective national laws.

5. When travelling, tourists and visitors should not commit any criminal act or any act considered criminal by the laws of the country visited and abstain from any conduct felt to be offensive or injurious by the local populations, or likely to damage the local environment; they should refrain from all trafficking in illicit drugs, arms, antiques, protected species and products and substances that are dangerous or prohibited by national regulations.

6. Tourists and visitors have the responsibility to acquaint themselves, even before their departure, with the characteristics of the countries they are preparing to visit; they must be aware of the health and security risks inherent in any travel outside their usual environment and behave in such a way as to minimize those risks.

Article 2 -Tourism as a vehicle for individual and collective fulfilment

1. Tourism, the activity most frequently associated with rest and relaxation, sport and access to culture and nature, should be planned and practised as a privileged means of individual and collective fulfilment ; when practised with a sufficiently open mind, it is an irreplaceable factor of self-education, mutual tolerance and for learning about the legitimate differences between peoples and cultures and their diversity.

2. Tourism activities should respect the equality of men and women ; they should promote human rights and, more particularly, the individual rights of the most vulnerable groups, notably children, the elderly, the handicapped, ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples.

3. The exploitation of human beings in any form, particularly sexual, especially when applied to children, conflicts with the fundamental aims of tourism and is the negation of tourism ; as such, in accordance with international law, it should be energetically combated with the cooperation of all the States concerned and penalized without concession by the national legislation of both the countries visited and the countries of the perpetrators of these acts, even when they are carried out abroad.

4. Travel for purposes of religion, health, education and cultural or linguistic exchanges are particularly beneficial forms of tourism, which deserve encouragement.

5. The introduction into curricula of education about the value of tourist exchanges, their economic, social and cultural benefits, and also their risks, should be encouraged.

Article 3 - Tourism, a factor of sustainable development

1. All the stakeholders in tourism development should safeguard the natural environment with a view to achieving sound, continuous and sustainable economic growth geared to satisfying equitably the needs and aspirations of present and future generations.

2. All forms of tourism development that are conducive to saving rare and precious resources, in particular water and energy, as well as avoiding so far as possible waste production, should be given priority and encouraged by national, regional and local public authorities.

3. The staggering in time and space of tourist and visitor flows, particularly those resulting from paid leave and school holidays, and a more even distribution of holidays should be sought so as to reduce the pressure of tourism activity on the environment and enhance its beneficial impact on the tourism industry and the local economy.

4. Tourism infrastructure should be designed and tourism activities programmed in such a way as to protect the natural heritage composed of ecosystems and biodiversity and to preserve endangered species of wildlife ; the stakeholders in tourism development, and especially professionals, should agree to the imposition of limitations or constraints on their activities when these are exercised in particularly sensitive areas : desert, polar or high mountain regions, coastal areas, tropical forests or wetlands, propitious to the creation of nature reserves or protected areas.

5. Nature tourism and ecotourism are recognized as being particularly conducive to enriching and enhancing the standing of tourism, provided they respect the natural heritage and local populations and are in keeping with the carrying capacity of the sites.

Article 4 - Tourism, a user of the cultural heritage of mankind and a contributor to its enhancement

1. Tourism resources belong to the common heritage of mankind; the communities in whose territories they are situated have particular rights and obligations to them.

2. Tourism policies and activities should be conducted with respect for the artistic, archaeological and cultural heritage, which they should protect and pass on to future generations ; particular care should be devoted to preserving and upgrading monuments, shrines and museums as well as archaeological and historic sites which must be widely open to tourist visits ; encouragement should be given to public access to privately-owned cultural property and monuments, with respect for the rights of their owners, as well as to religious buildings, without prejudice to normal needs of worship.

3. Financial resources derived from visits to cultural sites and monuments should, at least in part, be used for the upkeep, safeguard, development and embellishment of this heritage.

4. Tourism activity should be planned in such a way as to allow traditional cultural products, crafts and folklore to survive and flourish, rather than causing them to degenerate and become standardized.

Article 5 - Tourism, a beneficial activity for host countries and communities

1. Local populations should be associated with tourism activities and share equitably in the economic, social and cultural benefits they generate, and particularly in the direct and indirect creation of jobs resulting from them.

2. Tourism policies should be applied in such a way as to help to raise the standard of living of the populations of the regions visited and meet their needs ; the planning and architectural approach to and operation of tourism resorts and accommodation should aim to integrate them, to the extent possible, in the local economic and social fabric ; where skills are equal, priority should be given to local manpower.

3. Special attention should be paid to the specific problems of coastal areas and island territories and to vulnerable rural or mountain regions, for which tourism often represents a rare opportunity for development in the face of the decline of traditional economic activities.

4. Tourism professionals, particularly investors, governed by the regulations laid down by the public authorities, should carry out studies of the impact of their development projects on the environment and natural surroundings; they should also deliver, with the greatest transparency and objectivity, information on their future programmes and their foreseeable repercussions and foster dialogue on their contents with the populations concerned.

Article 6 - Obligations of stakeholders in tourism development

1. Tourism professionals have an obligation to provide tourists with objective and honest information on their places of destination and on the conditions of travel, hospitality and stays; they should ensure that the contractual clauses proposed to their customers are readily understandable as to the nature, price and quality of the services they commit themselves to providing and the financial compensation payable by them in the event of a unilateral breach of contract on their part.

2. Tourism professionals, insofar as it depends on them, should show concern, in cooperation with the public authorities, for the security and safety, accident prevention, health protection and food safety of those who seek their services ; likewise, they should ensure the existence of suitable systems of insurance and assistance ; they should accept the reporting obligations prescribed by national regulations and pay fair compensation in the event of failure to observe their contractual obligations.

3. Tourism professionals, so far as this depends on them, should contribute to the cultural and spiritual fulfilment of tourists and allow them, during their travels, to practise their religions.

4. The public authorities of the generating States and the host countries, in cooperation with the professionals concerned and their associations, should ensure that the necessary mechanisms are in place for the repatriation of tourists in the event of the bankruptcy of the enterprise that organized their travel.

5. Governments have the right – and the duty – especially in a crisis, to inform their nationals of the difficult circumstances, or even the dangers they may encounter during their travels abroad; it is their responsibility however to issue such information without prejudicing in an unjustified or exaggerated manner the tourism industry of the host countries and the interests of their own operators; the contents of travel advisories should therefore be discussed beforehand with the authorities of the host countries and the professionals concerned ; recommendations formulated should be strictly proportionate to the gravity of the situations encountered and confined to the geographical areas where the insecurity has arisen; such advisories should be qualified or cancelled as soon as a return to normality permits.

6. The press, and particularly the specialized travel press and the other media, including modern means of electronic communication, should issue honest and balanced information on events and situations that could influence the flow of tourists; they should also provide accurate and reliable information to the consumers of tourism services ; the new communication and electronic commerce technologies should also be developed and used for this purpose; as is the case for the media, they should not in any way promote sex tourism.

Article 7 - Right to tourism

1. The prospect of direct and personal access to the discovery and enjoyment of the planet’s resources constitutes a right equally open to all the world’s inhabitants; the increasingly extensive participation in national and international tourism should be regarded as one of the best possible expressions of the sustained growth of free time, and obstacles should not be placed in its way.

2. The universal right to tourism must be regarded as the corollary of the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, guaranteed by Article 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7.d of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

3. Social tourism, and in particular associative tourism, which facilitates widespread access to leisure, travel and holidays, should be developed with the support of the public authorities.

4. Family, youth, student and senior tourism and tourism for people with disabilities, should be encouraged and facilitated.

Article 8 - Liberty of tourist movements

1. Tourists and visitors should benefit, in compliance with international law and national legislation, from the liberty to move within their countries and from one State to another, in accordance with Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; they should have access to places of transit and stay and to tourism and cultural sites without being subject to excessive formalities or discrimination.

2. Tourists and visitors should have access to all available forms of communication, internal or external ; they should benefit from prompt and easy access to local administrative, legal and health services ; they should be free to contact the consular representatives of their countries of origin in compliance with the diplomatic conventions in force.

3. Tourists and visitors should benefit from the same rights as the citizens of the country visited concerning the confidentiality of the personal data and information concerning them, especially when these are stored electronically.

4. Administrative procedures relating to border crossings whether they fall within the competence of States or result from international agreements, such as visas or health and customs formalities, should be adapted, so far as possible, so as to facilitate to the maximum freedom of travel and widespread access to international tourism; agreements between groups of countries to harmonize and simplify these procedures should be encouraged; specific taxes and levies penalizing the tourism industry and undermining its competitiveness should be gradually phased out or corrected.

5. So far as the economic situation of the countries from which they come permits, travellers should have access to allowances of convertible currencies needed for their travels.

Article 9 - Rights of the workers and entrepreneurs in the tourism industry

1. The fundamental rights of salaried and self-employed workers in the tourism industry and related activities, should be guaranteed under the supervision of the national and local administrations, both of their States of origin and of the host countries with particular care, given the specific constraints linked in particular to the seasonality of their activity, the global dimension of their industry and the flexibility often required of them by the nature of their work.

2. Salaried and self-employed workers in the tourism industry and related activities have the right and the duty to acquire appropriate initial and continuous training; they should be given adequate social protection ; job insecurity should be limited so far as possible; and a specific status, with particular regard to their social welfare, should be offered to seasonal workers in the sector.

3. Any natural or legal person, provided he, she or it has the necessary abilities and skills, should be entitled to develop a professional activity in the field of tourism under existing national laws; entrepreneurs and investors - especially in the area of small and medium-sized enterprises - should be entitled to free access to the tourism sector with a minimum of legal or administrative restrictions.

4. Exchanges of experience offered to executives and workers, whether salaried or not, from different countries, contributes to fostering the development of the world tourism industry; these movements should be facilitated so far as possible in compliance with the applicable national laws and international conventions.

5. As an irreplaceable factor of solidarity in the development and dynamic growth of international exchanges, multinational enterprises of the tourism industry should not exploit the dominant positions they sometimes occupy; they should avoid becoming the vehicles of cultural and social models artificially imposed on the host communities; in exchange for their freedom to invest and trade which should be fully recognized, they should involve themselves in local development, avoiding, by the excessive repatriation of their profits or their induced imports, a reduction of their contribution to the economies in which they are established.

6. Partnership and the establishment of balanced relations between enterprises of generating and receiving countries contribute to the sustainable development of tourism and an equitable distribution of the benefits of its growth.

Article 10 - Implementation of the principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism

1. The public and private stakeholders in tourism development should cooperate in the implementation of these principles and monitor their effective application.

2. The stakeholders in tourism development should recognize the role of international institutions, among which the World Tourism Organization ranks first, and non-governmental organizations with competence in the field of tourism promotion and development, the protection of human rights, the environment or health, with due respect for the general principles of international law.

3. The same stakeholders should demonstrate their intention to refer any disputes concerning the application or interpretation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism for conciliation to an impartial third body known as the World Committee on Tourism Ethics.

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The Code is the product of a collective undertaking, to which many countries contributed on the basis of a draft text prepared by Professor Alain Pellet, Legal Adviser of the World Tourism Organization. The text was put into shape by a group comprising Mr. Dawid de Villiers, Deputy Secretary-General of WTO, Mr. Henryk Handszuh, Chief, Quality of Tourism Development, Mr. Peter Shackleford, Regional Representative for Europe, and the author of this book.
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