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Tourism Organisation

World tourism organization (WTO) is one of the major tourism organizations that facilitate all the aspect of tourism. WTO is an intergovernmental organization, which was established on Jan 2, 1975.

It is the transformation of IUOTO (INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OFFICIAL TRAVEL ORGANISTAION). Its head quartered in Madrid (Spain).

Aims of WTO are briefly discussed below:

Promotes and develops tourism with a view to contribute to economic development, international understanding, peace, prosperity and universal respect.
It pays particular attention to the interest of developing countries in the field of tourism.
It maintains effective collaboration with the appropriate organizations of the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

Activities of WTO are as under:

Promotional development and constant review of tourism trends and development.
Vigilance over changes in world economic and social conditions affecting tourism.
Systematic collection and analysis of various tourist aspects.
Conducting seminars, conferences and workshops.
Preparation of international agreements.
Simplifying frontier formalities (border formalities).
Removing barriers that affect the free movement of tourist.

All these services and activities are available for the member countries only. There are mainly 3 types of memberships:

Full members:(all countries have full membership)
Associate members:(all the territories of some countries, e.g., French Polynesia, Macao etc)
Affiliate membership:(some of the international bodies, e.g., accommodation sector, vocational training institutes)

Another organization is PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association). It is a non-government organization working for the development of tourism. It is established in 1952 and headquarters in San Francisco. Its contributions include:

Research studies on tourism
Organizes marketing programs
Provide detailed and up to date information about various destinations
Authoritative travel document about various destination (Pacific Travel News)
Pacific Area Destination handbook
Hotel Directory and Travel Guide
Organizes events in the pacific regions
Helps in economic development.