UN News Centre

Announced that the World Tourism Organization of the United Nations joined the Association of tourism, a group of companies operating in the field of tourism and for tourism development and promotion of its work to help eliminate poverty and promote social and economic development and environmental conservation. The official said the World Tourism Organization, Eugenio Yunis, "The Association of Tour Operators, with its experience in providing and organizing holidays, including its impact on tourism can play an important role in influencing the level and development of tourism in the world." The Association moved from Paris, where he was based in the United Nations Environment Programme to Madrid, where the headquarters of the World Tourism Organization. The Association consists of 15 companies from the tour and was founded in 1999 with support from the World Tourism Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme and UNESCO. The Association is a voluntary non-profit organization and is open to all tour operators from all over the world, regardless of size or geographic location. The organization works in 5 key themes include environmental research and topics of social, economic, cultural and capacity building to ensure sustainable development by organizing workshops and conferences and provide the necessary training. The director of the organization, Tom Silanimi, "The move to join the World Tourism Organization opens wide horizons before us and will help in integrating the concept of sustainable development in tourism