Dear IFTTA members,
In my most recent message of last year I had mentioned IFTTA’s intention to intensify its cooperation with UNWTO. At the end of January, Vice-President Harry Manuel and I paid an official visit to the UNWTO head quarters to discuss the details of the current joint project as well as potential future projects. We had a very friendly meeting with UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai who assured us that he is very eager to continue our cooperation. He mentioned a number of projects that he would like UNWTO to work on together with IFTTA experts, including the translation of the glossary of legal terms and definitions related to travel and tourism into French and other languages, participation of IFTTA in International Tourism Fora for Parliamentarians and Local Authorities, with the aim of promoting the importance of the tourism sector among parliamentarians worldwide, as well as cooperation in education and training for National Tourism Administrations (NTAs) in the area of travel and tourism law.
It was quite obvious that Sec. Gen. Rifai was very satisfied the work that had been done by IFTTA members in the past. Also, it seems natural that UNWTO as the world organisation dedicated to tourism and IFTTA as an association of experts with regard to the legal framework of travel and tourism join their forces to assist legislators in the field of travel and tourism worldwide.
We are very optimistic that the good relations with UNWTO will even become closer with these projects.
Recently, legislators fromaround the globe have focussed on improving passenger rights. There was a certain emphasis on air travel, where national and regional legislators try to supplement the rules of the Montreal Convention in areas which are not covered by this international legal instrument. The new legislation mainly deals with issues like denied boarding, flight cancellation and tarmac delays. Though the aim to improve the passengers’ legal remedies is certainly desirable, the practical implementation has had its difficulties: sometimes the rules are too complicated or vague and ambiguous;, sometimes their compatibility with international law is questionable; and – last but not least – sometimes the enforcement of the new rules leaves a lot to be desired.
However, the spectacular accident of the “Costa Concordia” has shifted our attention to sea travel. It is a coincidence that only a few weeks before the accident, the EU Council had approved the accession of the European Union to the Protocol of 2002 to the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea. Despite the accident, cruise tourism will remain a rapidly growing market and the legal framework governing sea travel will become more and more important. IFTTA and its members certainly will have their share in the legal discussion on these issues.
I sincerely hope that we can share some of these discussions at our upcoming conferences.
Kind regards
Michael Wukoschitz
(IFTTA President)
