World Tourism Organization

Global Code of Ethics for Tourism

The General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization,

Recalling:

- that it had provided at its Istanbul session in 1997 for the formation of a Special Committee for the preparation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and that this Committee met at Cracow, Poland on 7 October 1998, in conjunction with the Quality Support Committee meeting, in order to consider an outline of the said Code,

- that based on these initial considerations, the draft Global Code of Ethics for Tourism was prepared by the Secretary-General, with the assistance of the Legal Adviser to WTO and was studied by the WTO Business Council, the Regional Commissions and finally by the Executive Council at its sixtieth session, all of which were invited to formulate their observations,

- that the WTO Members were invited to communicate in writing the remarks or suggestions that they could not make at those meetings;

- that the principle of a Global Code of Ethics for Tourism aroused great interest among the delegations that participated in the seventh session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in New York in April 1999,

- that after the CSD session, additional consultations were undertaken by the Secretary-General with institutions representative of the tourism industry and the workers, as well as with various non-governmental organizations interested in this process,

- that, as a result of these discussions and consultations, many written contributions were received by the Secretary-General, which have so far as possible been reflected in the draft submitted to the Assembly for consideration;

Reaffirming that the aim of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism is to establish a synthesis of the various documents, codes and declarations of the same kind or with comparable aspirations published over the years, to complement them with new considerations reflecting the development of our societies and thus to serve as a frame of reference for the stakeholders in world tourism at the dawn of the next century and millennium,

Adopts the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, which reads as follows:

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 the 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.