The 20th Session of the UNWTO General Assembly unanimously approved the designation of Mr. Pascal Lamy, former Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as the new Chairman of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics.
Mr. Pascal Lamy will chair the World Committee on Tourism Ethics for four years, starting on 1 September 2013. A renowned economist and former European Commissioner, Mr. Lamy headed the WTO for the last eight years. He takes over, as Chairman of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics, from Dr. Dawid de Villiers, UNWTO former Deputy Secretary-General and former South African Minister of the Environment and Tourism.
“I am honoured by this appointment and I will do my best with my colleagues and within our mandate to ensure that the principles of the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism are duly put in practice”, said Mr. Lamy.
“We are extremely happy that Mr. Lamy has accepted to chair our World Committee on Tourism Ethics and that this proposal has been warmly endorsed by our General Assembly”, said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. “Mr. Lamy’s personality and experience will surely reinforce the central role of the Committee in promoting responsible tourism and take its work to a new level”, he added.
The World Committee on Tourism Ethics is the independent body responsible for interpreting, applying and evaluating the provisions of the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. The Committee´s tasks include the promotion and dissemination of the Code as well as the evaluation and monitoring of its implementation.
The 20th General Assembly also approved the appointment of the following as Committee Members: Mr. I Gede Ardika (Former Minister of Tourism of Indonesia), Mr. Yoshinori Hompo (Former Commissioner of Japan Tourism Agency), Ms. Fiona Jeffrey (Former Chair of the World Travel Market), Mr. Khelil Lajmi (Former Minister of Tourism of Tunisia), Mr. Jean Marc Mignon (President, International Organisation for Social Tourism), Ms. Tanja Mihalic (Head of Institute of Tourism, University of Ljubljana), Mr. Ron Oswald (General Secretary, International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers´ Association), Mr. Eugenio Yunis (Executive Vice President, Federation of Tourism Enterprises of Chile).
Mr. Hiran Cooray (Chairman, Jetwing), Ms. Suzy Hatough (Director of Dar Al-Diafa for Tourism Human Resources Development Consultancy) and Ms. Gunnur Ozalp (Secretary-General, Association of Turkish Travel Agents) were also appointed as alternate members of the Committee.
