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Let’s all back Zimbabwe’s Mzembi for leadership of UN tourism body

Monday February 27 2017
mzembi

“New blood” candidates for the UNWTO include the youthful, charismatic Tourism Minister of Zimbabwe, Walter Mzembi, who never fails to impress. ILLUSTRATION | JOHN NYAGAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Come May, a new secretary- general of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) will be elected by member nations.

The UNWTO generates market knowledge, promotes sustainable tourism policies and instruments, fosters tourism education and training, and works to make tourism an effective tool for development through technical assistance projects in over 100 countries around the world.

Based in Madrid, Spain, UNWTO’s membership includes 157 countries, six territories and over 500 affiliate members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities.

As the race for the post of secretary general of the UNWTO enters its final stages, and with seven aspiring candidates having announced their intention to run for the post, recent weeks have seen the emergence of intriguing manoeuvres on the part of some of those candidates to enhance their election chances.

Perhaps the most interesting development has been the emergence of an electoral coupling between late-entrant Doh Young-shim of South Korea and the current UNWTO executive director Carlos Voegler (of dual Spanish-Venezuelan nationality).

If Mrs Doh wins, she has apparently promised Voegler that she will revive the position of deputy secretary-general — a function currently exercised, albeit nominally, by another executive director, Marcio Favilla of Brazil, who has also entered the race for the UNWTO’s top job.

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In view of the aforementioned, UNWTO insiders point out that the alliance of Voegler, who turns 65 this year, represents something of a last-gasp attempt to boost his pension.

As for Mrs Doh, a South Korean has been the chairperson of the UNWTO- STEP organisation since 2002.

Based in Seoul, South Korea, STEP’s focus is the funding of tourism-based poverty alleviation projects in UNWTO member states, making it a sort of development arm of the mother organisation.

Informed murmurs from far-distant Addis Ababa, headquarters of the African Union, indicate that questions are also being asked why Korea would seek to undermine Africa’s chances of landing the top UNWTO job, especially since another Korean national, Ban Ki-moon, has just stepped down from a double mandate at the head of the mother UN body itself.

Unfavourable comparisons are being made between Korea and China, with African diplomats praising China for supporting Africa in its quest for the UNWTO job while criticising Seoul for challenging that quest.

True, like Africa, Asia has never led the UNWTO, but Asians, including Koreans, have had and continue to have a high-profile throughout other, significantly more mainstream UN and other international agencies, including, inter alia, WHO, IAEA, Unesco, etc.

“New blood” candidates for the UNWTO include the youthful, charismatic Tourism Minister of Zimbabwe, Walter Mzembi, who never fails to impress; Gloria Guevara, former tourism minister of Mexico; and the taciturn, burly Alain St Ange, former tourism minister of the Seychelles who controversially quit his job to enter the UNWTO race months after his own country — a member of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community [SADC] and the 55-nation African Union — formally endorsed Mzembi as Africa’s candidate for the top UNWTO post.

At present, the position of African regional representative at the UNWTO is occupied by Elcia Grandcourt, also from the Seychelles.

The race is still far from run. Other candidates may yet emerge before the 11th March deadline.

Existing candidates could yet withdraw or, like Doh-Voegler, seek electoral couplings with each other in the hope of boosting their chances.

At the end of the day, however, this race is about the future of the UNWTO and the pivotal role it must play in mainstreaming tourism, in all its many facets, at the core of the global development agenda.

Having read all candidates’ Madrid campaign launch pitches, it seems obvious that Walter Mzembi stands pretty much alone — not only in terms of his understanding of the industry and the challenges it faces; or his measured, focused programme for addressing those challenges should he find his way to the top floor of the UNWTO building; but equally, in terms of the passion, commitment and energy that positively radiate from him as he articulates that vision and that programme — primarily the need for the UNWTO to champion more inclusiveness and greater equality in its quest for global tourism growth and enhanced relevance within the broad UN family.

But, as the election draws closer and as a means of broadening his already considerable appeal, perhaps Mzembi should give thought to a coupling of his own.

Ms Guevara of Mexico — sharp, business-savvy and the obvious answer to a glaring lack of gender-balance within the upper-echelons of the UNWTO — could well be his perfect running-mate. And what a dynamic duo they would make.

The minister might also consider squaring this electoral circle by also reaching out to Marcio Favilla as a potential third running-mate, ensuring that, when the election dust has settled, the Brazilian stays on and ensures a level of administrative and operational continuity as the incoming secretary general sets about restructuring the organisation to his or her liking.

The origins of UNWTO go back to 1920 when the International Congress of Official Tourist Traffic Associations (ICOTT) was formed at The Hague. Some articles from early volumes of the Annals of Tourism Research claimed that the UNWTO originated from the International Union of Official Tourist Publicity Organisations (IUOTO).

Another version has it that the first International Congress of National Tourism Bodies, meeting in London, decided to create a new international non-governmental organisation to replace the International Union of Official Tourist Propaganda Organisations, established in 1934.

On September 27, 1970, the IUOTO special general assembly meeting in Acapulco, Mexico, adopted the statutes of the World Tourism Organisation.

From 1980 onwards, this day was declared World Tourism Day. Since the body formally became a specialised agency of the United Nations in the field of travel and tourism in 2003, the question of who heads the agency has become highly politicised.

It’s time the position came to Africa.

Lucky Onoriode George is publisher/editor of African Travel Times Magazine. www.africantraveltimes.com

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