UNWTO TOURISM: TIME HAS COME FOR A CHANGE
Travel and tourism are one of the main activities in the world economy today. Following the estimates of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), it accounts for 10 to 11 per cent of global GDP and employment. More reasonable estimates based on the methodology of the Tourism Satellite Account give 6 to 7 per cent of the total GDP, which is still a significant figure. In 2024, 1,4 billion of international arrivals were registered, worldwide resulting in 1,900 billion $ in receipts.
At the end of the sixties and during the early seventies, many countries, seeing that their tourism activity was growing, began to pay attention to the sector and felt the need to enhance cooperation among countries by establishing an intergovernmental organization. This led to the creation of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) over a period of five years from the adoption of its Statutes in 1970 to the beginning of its activities in 1975. The two signatories of this statement had the opportunity to participate actively in the process within their own governments and later with WTO contributing to increasing the weight of the tourism sector and the international institution that represents it.
Both of us served as Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization for two decades and transformed the institution into a specialized agency of the United Nations in 2004, renaming it as UNWTO.And we feel now deeply concerned about the events that have unfolded since Zurab Pololikashvili’s election in 2017. It saddens us to witness the state of our beloved UNWTO over the past eight years.
We are proud that under our two mandates, tourism has gained its recognition by the international community. Ignored at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and absent from the UN Millennium Development Goals, tourism emerged on the international scenery in 2002 with the International Year of Ecotourism and the plan of action adopted by the UN at its Johannesburg Summit. Tourism’s role was consequently enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals which followed. Its final recognition came in 2004 when the World Tourism Organization was converted into a full-fledged agency of the UN System. WTO became UNWTO. The recent appellation of “UN Tourism” does not bring anything new. It’s a farce since the name of the Organization has not been modified by an amendment to its Statutes.
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We shall address in the present statement the issues of the legitimacy of the current leadership, the management of the Institution, and its representativeness. We shall make a call for a better World Tourism Organization.
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1. Legitimacy of Mr. Pololikashvili
The initial election of the current Secretary General was clearly flawed. During the selection process by the Executive Council, Mr. Pololikashvili benefited of the elimination of an African candidate from the running, which was an illegal and irresponsible maneuver. Consequently, as the other candidate from the same region was deemed unacceptable by many members, Mr. Pololikashvili was appointed by default.
The proper election by the General Assembly was conducted by applause, ignoring the individual and secret ballot required by the Statutes, and requested by a member State, which should suffice to carry out a voting process, that did not take place. Mr. Pololikashvili was not the origin of this illegal procedure but clearly benefited from it.
In his re-election bid four years later, Mr. Pololikashvili used the excuse of the Covid-19 pandemic to subtly manipulate the process, preventing a fair and open competition to take place.
The question has now arisen whether the incumbent Secretary General is entitled to run for a third term. This issue is complex. In 2005, the General Assembly adopted an amendment to the Statutes that limits the Secretary General’s term to two consecutive four-year mandates. However, this limitation was meant to be provisional, pending ratification by the members. As of now, the amendment has not been ratified, and at the most recent General Assembly session, Mr. Pololikashvili was authorized to participate in the election. Legally, he is entitled to run. However, doubts remain about the legitimacy of this move, given that a revision of the Statutes is underway. From our perspective, Mr. Pololikashvili should have honored the intentions of the Supreme Organ of our Institution. Unfortunately, he has shown a lack of respect for this principle by putting forward his candidacy.
2. Management of the Organization
The current management of the World Tourism Organization raises multiple serious concerns.
The first one relates to the successive choices of its leadership structure. Under Zurab Pololikashvili’s direction, the management team has been initially composed of two persons: the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General (DSG). This structure was in accordance with the Staff Rules of the Institution. The post of Deputy was given to a competitor from Colombia in the 2017 election in exchange of his support to Mr Pololikashvili after the first ballot. This first phase did not last long. The freshly nominated DSG was quickly marginalized by the new SG and
his entourage and encouraged to leave his job. A new management structure was then put in place, composed of the SG and three Executive Directors. This choice has proved to be costly, bureaucratic and inefficient. It is not in accordance with the Staff Rules.
Since 2017, the number of the staff has remained more or less stable, around one hundred. But an important turn-over has taken place, many experienced and capable employees were forced to leave or to take an early retirement. They were replaced by incomers recruited in a way that respected only formally the publication of a declaration of vacancy of the post, but not the rest of the process.
The result was that many very qualified candidates were not aware that the post to which they were applying had already been attributed behind close doors. Many of the recruitments were the result of a personal choice by the Secretary General, often for political reasons and not on the view of the technical qualification and expertise of the candidate.
In the meantime, the salary scale has moved upward either to recruit those friends at high positions or to encourage the personal loyalty of other staff Members. As a result, the staff costs have substantially increased. Even if it is customary to maintain some flexibility in the staff management, the proportion of unbudgeted staff posts -24 out of 106- is much too high. This is the consequence of the desire to recruit collaborators without having to respect any rule.
An outlook of the management style of the new SG was given by his decision, taken just after his arrival, to contract an external audit firm to « clean up » the staff from those supposed to be his enemies. Everyone was interrogated by the auditors, offices and personal belongings were inspected and telephone calls listened. The Director of Administration and Finance (and Chief Procurement Officer) of the Organization was side-lined on the contract with the audit company, and objected to it since no tender had taken place. He was immediately fired and the Chief of Information and Communications Technology followed suit. Both of them appealed to the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labor Organization. They won, and UNWTO had to
pay them 624,000-euro compensation and suffered additional heavy expenses for the procedure, let alone reputational costs and impact on staff morale, as a culture of opacity and arbitrary management was implemented, repeatedly reflected in the annual reports of the Ethics Officer. This money and resources would have been better used in providing services to the Members.
The excessive weight of the staff costs is one of the reasons of the fragile financial situation of the Organization which suffers many difficulties in balancing its budget, even formally. The contributions paid by the Member States amount to only half of the total income, which does not reflect a sound and sustainable state of affairs. By loosing its attractiveness and the value provided, the UNWTO suffers more and more difficulties to collect the arrears contributions due by its members. This is going to worsen: facing an uncertain financial situation, the Organization has been obliged to cut or to scale down the activities of various programs, reducing the services provided to the Members. It’s a vicious circle. Many members ask themselves why paying a contribution if in exchange you receive no benefit?
3. Relations with the Members and representativeness of the Organization
157 sovereign countries are Full Members of the World Tourism Organization. But many important countries, especially several OECD members, are not there. Fifteen years ago, countries like the United Kingdom, Norway, Australia or Canada used to be part of the Institution. They have left, and Zurab Pololikashvili has been unable to bring them back. In spite of the announcement, he proudly made, he has also failed to lure the United States.
Unlike the other UN specialized agencies, UNWTO is not a truly global body. It has an unbalanced membership that is detrimental to the interests of the developing countries, as the more industrialized and developed countries happen to be both financial partners and source markets of their visitors. Weakened by the absence of some major stakeholders, UNWTO is not in a position “to pay a special attention to the interests of the developing countries”, a mission assigned by its Statutes.
To express its political support to Ukraine, a country, at the time, close to his own one, Georgia, Mr Pololikashvili accused in 2022 the Russian Federation not to respect the Statutes of the Organization, forcing this important country to leave. The UNWTO was financially and politically severely weakened by this loss. Whatever their members could think of the war imposed by Russia to Ukraine, no other institution of the UN System nor the United Nations themselves did something of that kind.
The SG and his team do not treat the member countries on an equal footstep, as they should. The Members of the Executive Council are clearly privileged, in terms of activities, services and recruitments. One country is promised a center for sustainability, a second one an educational institution, a third one a regional office, and a fourth one a high-level post. In most of the cases, being awarded such a role is only a smokescreen with no real substance or funding coming behind. This priority given to the Council Members is aimed at facilitating the re-election of the Secretary General.
The issue of the regional offices deserves a short development. An experiment was intended by Robert Lonati, the first WTO Secretary General, at a time when air transport was not as easy as today and internet did not exist. The tentative failed: since the Organization had no resources for that, the regional offices were only supported by their host countries. “The one who pays commands”, and there was no reason for the offices to report to Madrid, and the countries of the region never recognized any pre-eminence to the one where the office was located.
The same considerations are valid today, and, for the same reasons as the first one, this second tentative is bound to fail. Countries such as Brazil, China, Morocco or Saudi Arabia, which have received from the SG the proposal of a regional office for the sole purpose of obtaining their support to his campaign should be aware that, how French people use to say, only those who have received a promise are bound by it. They will receive no money and no support. Morocco, with an office in Marrakech, will never see Algeria recognizing its supremacy.
To be complete on the issue, let’s add that Saudi Arabia was promised a regional office after having failed to gain the jackpot: the transfer under very obscure conditions of the Organization headquarters from Madrid to Riyad, a move of course unacceptable for the Spanish government, but that Zurab Pololikashvili had been pushing very hard to have the headquarters transferred.
The representativeness of the World Tourism Organization, which was created in 1975 to become a partnership institution, is not better among the tourism private sector. There are around 400 affiliate members, the turnover is important, many joining but others leaving, and the number is globally stagnant. They receive no real services, and the only motivation for many of them is to mention the affiliation to UNWTO on their letter paper or their business card. Having nominated a former diplomat, friend of the Secretary General, and not someone coming from the private sector, to lead the affiliate members is part of this bad performance. It’s important that on the occasion of the upcoming election, UNWTO renews its commitment and vocation to building partnerships.
4. Call for a better World Tourism Organization UNWTO must come back to the core values which have governed its life until the present management took office. Principles which have been forgotten should be used again: ethics, transparency, respect, dignity, intellectual honesty, fairness, tolerance, mutual understanding, friendship among Members and individuals… Ethics should prevail at every level of the Institution, including in the behavior of the Secretary General and his team. He, himself, like the wife of Caesar, should not be suspected of any wrongdoing. He should not draw any indue benefit from the time spent in UNWTO. The same moral exigency has to be demanded to his direct collaborators and his team whether inside the Organization or in its relations with the host country.
Governance transparency is a must. A fair, honest and comprehensive information on the management of the Institution must be given to the Members. They should not discover when it’s too late that the Organization is facing difficulties. In the same manner the recruitment of new staff members should be totally transparent and strictly respect the internal rules of the Organization and those imposed by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) of the UN. The external finance auditors should be given a comprehensive and non-biased picture of the real situation in order they can provide the Executive Council with a honest assessment of the state of the finances. The staff must be treated with fairness, respect and humanity. Impartiality should govern its management. No one should be sanctioned, pushed out, forced to retirement, or simply deprived from a deserved promotion for the simple reason he or she is not close to the Secretary General. Promotion should be given on merit, not on favoritism. Grades and scales have to be granted on the base of the principles set up by the ICSC. Now that the moment has come of an alternance at the top level, what happened in 2017 should not be repeated. No witch-hunt should be launched again by those who have been recruited because of their proximity to Zurab Pololikashvili. A chance to continue serving the Organization should be given to each of them. Members should receive services not only considering the contribution they pay but rather considering them on an equal footstep. Members of the Council or not, proximity to the country of the SG or not, having voted for him or not at a precedent election should not be the matter. No one should be privileged or disregarded. Countries should not be divided in two groups: the friends and the enemies of the Secretary General. Efficiency should come first. The tourism sector and the member countries deserve a well-managed, modest, honest, effective, and swift institution. Excessive costs should be identified and eliminated. No useless external advisors or consultants should enter the premises of the headquarters, even for a temporary mission. Strictly limited in number, the management should not be bureaucratic and financially too heavy. Duplication of structures and confusion in the missions and activities should be avoided.
UNWTO must become attractive for developed and industrialized countries, those which at a given time in the history of the organisation were members. It’s simply the survival of the Organization which is at stake. Can you remain a UN institution when three out of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -United States, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom- are not present? It’s essential to design and put in place intelligent and powerful activities relevant for those countries. There should be a balance between the quality of the services provided to them and the amount of contribution they would have to pay to take the decision of coming back. Finally, UNWTO has to play to the full extent the card of partnership. It is the only UN institution, together with the International Labor Organization, to have a plural membership. The presence of private companies, local authorities, universities, associations and NGOs is a plus for our institution. Not enough value is drawn from this specificity. A Secretary General with a strong experience in the private sector would be an asset for the World Tourism Organization.
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At the end of this overview, the conclusion is clear. There is no place for doubt or hesitation: the descent to hell of the Organization must be stopped. The management of the World Tourism Organization just cannot continue as it is. The outgoing Secretary General, Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili, has been there for too long. He should not be proposed to the General Assembly for a four-years re-election when the Executive Council meets in Madrid on 29th-30th May 2025. The time for change has come. UNWTO must enter a new era.
Six candidates are running. Three of them have a chance: the incumbent, Ms. Gloria Guevara Manzo from Mexico, and Mr. Harry Theoharis from Greece.
Selecting Mr. Pololikashvili is likely to end in a deadlock. At the last session of the General Assembly, the host country, Uzbekistan, with the view of continuing the implementation of the ongoing plan of actions, proposed to renew the term of the Secretary General, which had not come to an end. No indication of the duration of this new mandate was given, and no formal re-election process opened. To approve this incredible proposal a two thirds majority was needed, which was not obtained. This sends a strong signal from the General Assembly to oppose the proposal of extending the presence of Mr. Pololikashvili at the head of the Organization, illustrating the growing rejection of his policies, especially from countries which are not members of the Executive Council, and which are under the impression to be forgotten. Therefore, since in application of article 22 of the Statutes, a candidate proposed by the Council needs to get the same two thirds majority to be elected by the Assembly, selecting Mr. Pololikashvili presents a big risk for the Institution. What should be done once the nominee is eliminated? The question has often been raised since the inception of UNWTO and no answer was found. Our Institution would enter an unknown territory.
The two other candidacies do not present such an uncertainty. Ms. Guevara and Mr. Theoharis are two qualified personalities. They have in common to have been a successful minister of Tourism of a major tourism country. Harry Theoharis has also been a deputy minister of National Economy and Finance of Greece. Gloria Guevara would bring some fresh air to UNWTO since it has never been headed by a woman. She would also carry with her an outstanding experience of the tourism private sector having been the President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council. As said before, UNWTO needs such an enrichment. Gloria Guevara has also been a high-level advisor to the government of Saudi Arabia for shaping in a sustainable manner the tourism policy of this newcomer on the world scenario.
In selecting Ms. Guevara or Mr. Theoharis to become the 6th Secretary General of the UNWTO the Executive Council will make no mistake.
Francesco Frangialli and Taleb Rifai
