UNWTO Executive Council welcomes Tanzania as new member

(eTN) – Tanzania was elected to the UN World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Executive Council it was announced at the General Assembly currently underway in South Korea with a term of membership until 2015. The Executive Council meets normally twice a year, most recently in Mombasa, Kenya – the first time ever on the African continent – and often selects its meeting venues from among the council membership, giving the host countries the opportunity to showcase its tourism attractions to fellow colleagues at the WTO.

Tanzania’s delegation was led by controversial Tourism Minister Ezekiel Maige, who only a few months ago delivered a slap across the face of another UN organization, UNESCO, when he called their World Heritage Committee an “inconsequential entity. “ Fellow UNWTO members on that Executive Council will be watching him with bated breath if similar broadsides come their way when the proverbial “bee under the bonnet” stirs anger and prompts “shots from the hip,” something the minister has become infamous for.

The global organization, based in Madrid, Spain, now has 155 members from across the world and broadly benefits, in particular ,developing countries with training and marketing initiatives, giving back a multiple of the annual fees through relevant support measures.