Madrid, June 2002 - The business paradigm of tourism is undergoing significant changes, which have been highlighted and accelerated since September 11. In view of this situation, the response of the tourism industry and public administrations dealing with tourism has been to increase professionalism, a key element in achieving quality and competitivity.

The WTO Education Council, which comprises almost one hundred universities, business schools and training centres throughout the world, held its 5th General Meeting in Madrid on 6 and 7 June to take action in response to these new challenges.

If tourism education, training and scientific research have always been important, this is even more obvious now, when tourism consumers are changing their habits and questioning established business practices in the sector. Faced with this need for greater security, more options, better service, greater satisfaction and, certainly, greater quality in tourism, the WTO Education Council considers that these goals can only be reached through better training to meet the needs of the industry, Governments and civil society.

Currently education and training suffer in many cases from a lack of depth and isolation from the reality of the sector and tourism host societies. Research in tourism also needs to consider the strategy of the development of destinations and tourism enterprises, customer loyalty and the compatibility of tourism with the natural environment and social development, beyond short-term issues of lowering costs or redistributing market quotas.

The members of the WTO Education Council consider themselves in a privileged position to find solutions to these problems. These are prestigious institutions, which have become members of WTO after submitting their tourism training programmes to a quality audit. Furthermore, the inter-action within WTO of the 145 Governments and Territories which make up the Organization places these institutions in an advantageous position to gain knowledge of the problems and to put into practice effective programmes with a widespread application.

The Secretary General of WTO took an active role in this 5th General Meeting of the WTO Education Council and expressed his satisfaction at the strength of the Education Council and the excellent quality of its programme of work, with proposals referring to:

1. Closer collaboration with the WTO Members, seeking to maximize the value added offered to them through tourism education, training and research programmes and activities.

2. In this context, the establishment of a Tourism Labour Market Observatory to serve as a guide for education and training and also for other tourism human resource management issues.

3. The creation of a Scientific Park for Research and Development in Tourism Destination Management. This project, sponsored by one or various WTO Members, would bring together and focus the efforts of Universities, Business Schools, Research Centres as well as other organizations which contribute to innovation in tourism.

4. The launching of the WTO Ulysses Awards for Innovation and Application of Knowledge in Tourism. These awards will disseminate information on innovative experiences in the area of quality, sustainability, heritage management, business and organizational management, education, training and research as well as tourism policy. These awards will be given for action undertaken by enterprises and organizations, local and regional bodies, non-governmental organizations and the tourism public Administrations throughout the world. The awards will be given widespread publicity, and presented in a ceremony held during the WTO General Assembly, under the chairmanship of the host country and in the presence of authorities from the 145 WTO member States and Territories, representatives from the tourism industry on a worldwide level and the specialized and general communications media who cover General Assembly activities.

These proposals for projects, having been favourably considered by the WTO Education Council and the Secretary General, will be immediately initiated within the framework of the World Tourism Organization's programme of work, designed to meet the specific needs of its Members.

For further information please contact:

Eduardo Fayos-Solá
Human Resources Development Department
World Tourism Organization
Tel. (34) 91 567 8207
Fax. (34) 91-567-8218
E-mail: [email protected]