World Tourism Organization, General Assembly

First of all, it will be the WTO’s first General Assembly since it acquired its new status as a specialized agency of the United Nations, which was the result of a process through which the international community expressed the strong interest it has in the tourism sector today.

Secondly, it will be the first time in its thirty years of existence that the WTO will hold the meeting of its supreme organ in one of the member countries of its Commission for Africa, in particular, a destination in sub-Saharan Africa.

The third reason is that one of the central themes of this 16th session will be tourism’s contribution to sustainable development and poverty reduction. Tourism, through the Organization responsible for it, will thus be making its contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals just shortly after the heads of state and government meeting in New York will have reaffirmed the relevance of these Goals, five years after they were set out through the United Nations.