 Cooperation between UNWTO and IFTTA in the
Promotion of Travel and Tourism Law Knowledge, in regard to LEXTOUR, to an Interactive Forum on Tourism Legislation,
to a Glossary of Tourism Legal Terms and in Legal Mechanisms for Sustainable Tourism Development
At the 18th Congress of IFTTA held in Malta , 7-10
September, 2006, it was agreed to further cooperation between the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the
International Forum of Travel and Tourism Advocates (IFTTA) on the following aspects:
- The continued development and interconnection between the
UNWTO LEXTOUR database and the IFTTA website and the support of the proposed UNWTO interactive discussion forum on
topical issues related to tourism legislation by the provision of IFTTA facilitators. The guiding principles for the
modus operandi of the interactive discussion forum on tourism legislation are annexed to this document.
- The establishment and maintenance of a joint multi-lingual
glossary of legal terms applicable to travel and tourism, which shall be integrated as appropriate within the UNWTO
online multi-lingual glossary, the TOURISTERM, and the IFTTA Legal Taxonomy of Travel and Tourism Terms.
- Promotion of Travel and Tourism Law knowledge, education,
and training.
- In view of the important contribution of tourism to
sustainable development and poverty alleviation, the fostering of support for travel and tourism lawyers and
professionals from developing countries to participate in travel and tourism law congresses and
symposia.
- This
letter, when signed on behalf of UNWTO and IFTTA, is a record of mutual understanding and intentions to cooperate in
the above issues, to remain in force until it is formally cancelled by either part giving at least one month’s
written notice to the other.
As hereby signed by:
Francesco
FRANGIALLI Dov KOLANI
Secretary General, UNWTO
IFTTA President
Madrid , 30 August 2007
Jerusalem , 30 August 2007
ANNEX
GUIDING
PRINCIPLES FOR THE MODUS OPERANDI OF THE INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION FORUM ON TOURISM LEGISLATION
The Secretariat of the World Tourism
Organization(UNWTO) and the Board of the International Forum of Travel and Tourism Advocates (IFTTA) are agreed on
the following guiding principles for the modus operandi of the interactive Discussion Forum on Tourism
Legislation (hereafter Forum).
1. Access to the Forum, for the purposes
of reading messages as well as participating in the discussions, should be restricted to authorized and registered
Members of UNWTO and IFTTA.
2. Intellectual property rights with
respect to the Forum should be retained for all intents and purposes by UNWTO and IFTTA. Forum members should
undertake not to divulge their Forum access codes to third parties or to publicly disclose Forum content.
3. Initially, registration
with the Forum should be authorized for one individual(if possible, the legal adviser or the equivalent official)
from each National Tourism Administration(NTA) in the case of UNWTO’s Member States , and for IFTTA , each of
its individual Members.
4. To broaden the
Forum’s audience and activity, NTAs-through their representatives, should be able to apply for registration of
more than one individual (up to five per NTA).
5. UNWTO and IFTTA should draw up and
apply a procedure for the transmission and receipt of requests, verification, admission criteria, and user
registration, clearly specifying the functions assigned to each of the parties.
6. All Forum users-with the exception of
the Administrator and the Moderator(s)- should have the same rights and authorizations.
7. User profiles should be
defined based on a careful analysis of the users’ communication and privacy needs and preferences.
- Communication between
users
8. In principle, all communications
between Forum users should be public. The exchange of private messages and communications outside of the Forum should
therefore be limited or avoided.
9. UNWTO and IFTTA should
draw up and publish basic regulations to govern the Forum’s operations, assigning responsibility for enforcing
them to the Forum Moderator(s).
10. The working language for the
Forum should be English. All communications with Forum members, notices, tips, user guides, and messages from the
Moderator(s) and the Administrator should be drafted in English. Discussions should also take place in
English.
11. Only on an exceptional
basis, and as circumstances require(e.g. textual citations from, comments on, or interpretations of, non-English
legal texts),should members be permitted to use other languages. Those who do should assume full responsibility,
with the understanding that the use of other languages will tend to limit and undermine comprehension and
participation for the Forum’s other members.
- Content: Priority issue areas for the
Forum
12. UNWTO, in coordination
with IFTTA ,should draw up a preliminary list of priority issue areas for discussion in the Forum, updating the list
as the nature of discussion and user interventions evolves over time.
13. UNWTO, in coordination
with IFTTA ,should regularly monitor the range of issues addressed in the Forum, intervene as necessary to keep the
Forum on-topic, and elicit discussion on issue areas considered of highest priority.
- Organization of the content
14. Planning for the Forum should
provide for the creation and organization of “ secondary” content under headings or in folders set up
for that purpose, including in particular” About this Forum”, “FAQ”, and “
User Guides and Tips”.
15. The main functions of the
Forum Administrator and Moderator(s) should include keeping the content coherently organized. The Forum could begin
operating with a very simple thematic structure, which could then be made more elaborate as the discussions and
messages accumulate.
16. The Forum should be
moderated, but without making messages subject to prior clearance. UNTWO and IFTTA should appoint one or more
Moderators, to serve also as facilitator(s) for the discussions.
17. According to the present letter on
Cooperation between UNWTO and IFTTA, the role of Moderator is to be assumed by a Member of IFTTA. The organization
should have alternate Moderators to step in when the principal Moderator is not available.
18. An official from UNWTO should be assigned responsibility
for monitoring and evaluating the Forum on a regular basis, to verify that the system is functioning properly, to track
the level of activity and participation, as well as progress toward stated objectives, and to facilitate interaction
and generate synergies between this and other UNWTO activities, and in particular, the LEXTOUR Database, the World
Committee on Tourism Ethics, the Technical Cooperation, etc.
19. Forum users should be given the means to follow the
historical and logical sequencing of a given discussion by displaying messages in a threaded or nested
structure.
20. The Forum management
system selected should be as friendly as possible and should allow to attach document files in commonly used
formats.
21. Organized and complete
archives of Forum discussions should be maintained online.
- Guides, tips, and other Forum
documentation
22. The Forum should make the
guide and user tips provided with the Forum management software available to users online, adapting or supplementing
these material as necessary.
- Logistical and technical support for the
Forum
23. The Forum should be hosted by the UNWTO
Web server; UNWTO should also be responsible for the installation and configuration of the Forum management software;
the creation of the Forum; the updating of the software; and the introduction of improvements.
Madrid , July 2007
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