WTO to elevate advisory issue to UN

Is it legal to issue travel advisories against certain countries?

The 139 member countries of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) have agreed to elevate the matter to the United Nations.

Speaking before the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit on Crisis Management, WTO Secretary General Francesco Frangialli said the organization would present all travel advisories to UN, which in turn would decide the legality of such travel warnings.

The summit was held as part of the WTO’s efforts to eliminate the barriers that affect the recovery of the tourism industry that is now grappling from the triple threat of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), terrorism and the global economic slump.

"We would seek the legal capacity of the UN on these travel advisories," Frangialli said while noting that the advisories have caused tremendous impact on the tourism industry in the past.

Tourism Secretary and ASPAC Ministerial Summit chairman Richard Gordon also stressed the need for the UN’s evaluation before any country advisory.

"The UN could help WTO in minimizing the issuance of travel advisories or it could also give advice on what are the necessary steps to be taken by countries affected by the advisory," Gordon explained.

WTO Asia Pacific Regional Rep. H. Varma said countries in the region must act expeditiously and be pro-active in coming out with strategies to resolve the crisis affecting the tourism industry at this time.

"Tourism ministers cannot just sit back and relax and wait for the crisis," Varma said as he pointed out that the growth in global tourism for the past three years changed "in just a blink of an eye" due to SARS and terrorist threat.

Varma said the global tourism industry had been growing by an average of 6.9 per cent but it went down by six per cent in year 2001 following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States.

Tourism industry in Asia Pacific alone suffered P11 billion in damages and three million job losses as a result of the SARS epidemic that affected 29 countries worldwide.

But both Frangialli and Varma expressed confidence that the tourism industry would be able to recover from the threat of SARS and terrorism before the end of the year.

The WTO is forecasting an average four percent growth rate annually up to 2020.

Frangialli cited signs that the SARS crisis was subsiding with Taiwan recently removed from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) list of countries where travel is not encouraged due to the SARS threat. This leaves only Beijing as the sole city where travel advisories are in place due to SARS.

Frangialli said his group is confident that the situation will improve and that it is still planning to push through with its general assembly meeting in Beijing in October.

He stressed that destinations that recover the fastest will be the ones that work the most effectively during this critical recovery period. — With AFP