Exposed! UNWTO 1971 Ankara Minutes on World Tourism Day

UNWTO began in 1925 as the International Congress of Official Tourist Traffic Associations. The International Union of Official Travel Organizations (IUOTO) was renamed in 1947. It was reorganized in 1975 as the World Tourism Organization, which became a UN Specialized Agency in 2003.

The UNWTO is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. UNWTO is governed by its General Assembly, which meets every two years.

Nigerian Lucky George is an icon in the African travel and tourism industry, a long-time publisher of African Travel Times, the Executive Director at the African Travel Commission [ATC], and one of the first members of the World Tourism Network.

Juergen Steinmetz is the publisher of eTurboNews and the founder and chairman of the World Tourism Network. He is also the Hon. founding chairman of the African Tourism Board. Lucky George and Juergen Steinmetz gave the keynote opening speeches at the launch of the African Tourism Board in 2018 in Capetown.

Both publishers have a decades-long history following UNWTO, the World Tourism Organization.

Lucky George is the man behind World Tourism Day. He shared his fascinating story with Juergen Steinmetz in a public conversation last week entitled “It’s Time To Reform The United Nations World Tourism Organisation.”

Lucky explained:

Due to the disconnect between the United Nations World Tourism Organisation [UNWTO], a specialized agency of the United Nations in the field of travel and tourism since 2003, and some of its members, I, Lucky Onoriode George, 2006 Winner of the European Commission Lorenzo Natali Prize for Journalists Reporting Human Rights and Democracy engaged Juergen Steinmetz, Publisher, eTurboNews on the way forward for the UNWTO.

Here is a transcript of this conversation

Lucky George:  Good morning, Juergen

Juergen Steinmetz: Good evening, George from Hawaii. How are you?

Lucky George:  Lagos is fine.

Juergen Steinmetz: I’ve never been to Lagos. I made it to Abuja once and was there for the Commonwealth Tourism Conference. It was a really good experience, I have to say, and I loved the way the women dressed in their colorful clothes. Also, the men, I mean, everyone dressed well, and it’s really like a different world.

Lucky George: Juergen, I guess you enjoyed your stay overall besides that, the people are very colorful and flamboyant.

Juergen Steinmetz: One thing that has stuck in my head since that visit and a significant lesson is that I will never have a desert in the dark anymore.

We were at the Abuja Sheraton Hotel for dinner, and your minister was speaking, and they had problems with the electricity. When the electricity went off, I was at the buffet trying to get a dessert. In the dark, I grabbed something, thinking it was a desert, and put it into my mouth for a bite. It was a glass thing, and I almost screamed after biting on it in the dark.

Lucky George: What a terrible experience.

Juergen Steinmetz: I will never forget that moment and swore never to try such an exercise in the dark again.

Lucky George: I think it’s a good idea.

Juergen Steinmetz: Desserts aren’t good anyway, you know, they have too much sugar, and it’s not good, so forget it.

Lucky George: Absolutely. Yeah.

Juergen Steinmetz:  I guess we were going to discuss the United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO] as you requested, do we?

Lucky George: Yes, Juergen!
You and I know the UNWTO very well, but few people know the history. However, in fact, I was privileged to have been introduced to a man known as Ignatius Amaduwa Atigbi, former Secretary General of the then Nigeria Tourist Association, now the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation [NTDC], an apex tourism agency in Nigeria.

I became his student because I was willing to listen to his stories of how he began his career as a journalist with Reuters in West Africa and later to Fleet Street in London.

From there on, I was educated on the history and the formation of the UNWTO and, the institutionalization of the World Tourism Day Celebration, the formation of the United Nations in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1970.

True, the African Travel Commission [ATC], which decided that their members should continue to receive government support, the status of the International Union of Official Travel Organisation [IUOTO] based in France must change.

How was UNWTO formed?

The members agreed to it, and the chair asked if any lawyer was in the house to guide them. Behold, the only lawyer present was a Nigerian named Odubayo, a staff member of the Nigerian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

He drafted an agreement that was voted on by members. By 2 am on September 27th, 1970, the motion of renaming IOUTO to the World Tourism Organisation [WTO] was adopted.

Juergen Steinmetz: I didn’t know that. That’s so fascinating.

Lucky George: Yes. And I have the documents, the minutes of meetings.

Juergen Steinmetz: Wow, it’s all new to me.
But you have been in the travel and tourism business longer than I have. I started in the travel business in 1978, but I was more in the practical part. I wasn’t involved in organizations.

My first job was in Morocco, in Africa. I was a tour guide, not a tour guide, but I sold land arrangements to German tourists on a cruise ship for Morocco. So that was my very first job. So, I had no worries with the board and tourism organization.

How did World Tourism Day Started?

Lucky George: That is the story and journey of today’s UNWTO. However, by 1971 in Ankara, Turkey, at the XXII General Assembly Meeting of IUOTO, the African Commission, under the leadership of Nigeria’s Ignatius Amaduwa Atigbi, proposed that September 27th, being the date that transformation of IUOTO to WTO was made possible be set aside and commemorated annually as World Tourism Day.

So, the idea is to commemorate the achievement and look at the necessary adjustments that need to be made.

Juergen Steinmetz: Interesting!

Lucky George: Despite this firsthand account story, there was no document to corroborate the tourism agency’s voices. 

We don’t have any of the documents. So, I took it as a challenge, and I decided to travel from Lagos to Spain on a visit.

Then luckily for me, I have been communicating with a Slovenian guy who was the head of the UNWTO communications department at that time.

I wrote to him and informed him of my intention to come to Spain to seek evidence that Atigbi was the man who proposed the celebration of World Tourism Day in his capacity as the Chairman of the African Travel Commission [ATC].

He was skeptical, though, but he promised to help me once I arrived in Madrid, which was precisely what he did.

We’re looking at the minutes of meetings. Luckily, we first stumbled upon a copy of the minutes of the meeting of 1971 in French, where the history was well documented, and behold; we also located the English version.

That was how I returned home (Nigeria) to the tourism agency and the ministry with my findings. In summary, I instigated that a letter be written to the Secretary General of the UNWTO at that time and demand that the African guy deserves to be remembered and celebrated.

Gladly, there was no objection to Nigeria’s call, and UNWTO, under Secretary General Dr. Taleb Rifai, wrote back to the ministry and promised to honor Late Ignatius Amaduwa Atigbi at the 2009 International World Tourism Day Celebration that was hosted by Ghana.

The Story Behind UNWTO and World Tourism Day

Juergen, that was the story behind the UNWTO and World Tourism Day Celebration.

Juergen Steinmetz: Incredible!

Lucky George: To cap it all, the Nigerian government, through the Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism, congratulated me and the sum of N200.000. You know I love African tourism, and I guess you still recollect my Zimbabwe exploits.

And, of course, you knew very well when the trouble started in Zimbabwe, I was the one that was contacted by the Chief Executive Officer of Zimbabwe Tourism Authority [ZTA], the late Karigoke Kaseke, who wanted me to come to Zimbabwe with some journalists from around the world.

Juergen Steinmetz: Sure!

Lucky George: I invited you, as the Publisher of eTurboNews, to come, but you eventually sent your Editor in Chief at that time, Nelson Alcantara, and we were in Zimbabwe for 18 days.

Then two or three years later, Zimbabwe co-hosted the UNWTO General Assembly Meeting with Zambia at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Livingstone in Zambia.

That massive turn of events was because of the groundwork that you and I used our platforms to change.

Again, sadly, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and the ministry failed to pay me the balance of the agreed fee for my services. Shameful!!!

The CNN Task Group and eTurboNews

Juergen Steinmetz: You know my story well with the UNWTO and CNN Task Group. We were the ones who brought CNN into the picture because Anita Mendiratta, who was based in Cape Town, South Africa, didn’t know many of the other people, and we started introducing her to people.

Though, the idea was really that at the end, we were going to get major advertising and thought, this is great.

CNN did well. Anita wrote many excellent articles on eTurboNews. We profiled organizations, initiatives, and individuals. But unfortunately, we never got any share in the advertising.

Lucky George: I know Anita Mendiratta very well. Our last encounter was a bitter one in the Gambia. I saved the Gambia $1.5 million in World Bank tourism funding that the country director was willing to part with for a bogus publicity contract with CNN that I wrestled.

Anyway, that is a story for another day.

Juergen Steinmetz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know my story with UNWTO.

Lucky George: Absolutely. Absolutely. The big question is how do we make the UNWTO function with other UN specialized agencies, where each continent would have tenured representatives like the World Health Organization [WHO] and International Labour Organisation [ILO] from all the continents instead of relying on career directors whose interest are their benefits.

Juergen Steinmetz: You are right.

Lucky George: All reputable UN agencies work closely with local and international media, including the UNWTO. They usually don’t pick up calls or reply to emails.

Juergen Steinmetz: No, they don’t.

Lucky George: It’s sad, but we cannot continue to tolerate the excesses of the UNWTO.

Juergen Steinmetz: You have a very valid point. I have had the same experience with them over the years.  Maybe mine has different reasons, but Marcelo Risi, the media guy, has not responded to anything ever since he got his new boss.

Since Zurab Pololikashvili took over, I have not had any phone calls.

UNWTO has banned me from attending their press conferences, specifically at the World Travel Market, where we are an official media partner, and I couldn’t attend. They had hired a bodyguard standing there with my photo in his hand to ensure I didn’t get into the hall.

So, they’re not inclusive in any way. They don’t like criticism, and they don’t respond to criticism. And I guess he (Zurab) can make any decision he wants. And no one cares.

It is sad because even when you look at the general assemblies and the other events they have, their members, many of the ministers, as you rightfully said, change all the time. The new ones from many countries don’t know what the old ministers did.

Lucky George:  So, Juergen, what do we do? Most African countries use UNWTO events as leisure trips and are paid for by their government, of which Nigeria is one.

Juergen Steinmetz: And it’s probably not only in Africa because there is a similar situation in many countries around the world, and if you don’t have the more prominent players, and I’m talking about the UK, the United States, Canada among others, the UNWTO will remain a ragtag agency of the UN.

Lucky George: It’s a mess.