UNWTO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL ELECTS KENYAS TOURISM MINISTER AS CHAIRMAN
Tourism Minister Najib Balala was elected chairman of the important executive committee of the UNs World Tourism Organization during the just concluded assembly of the UNWTO in South Korea. The 31 member committee runs the affairs of the UNWTO between general assemblies and for the first time ever met in Africa earlier this year at the Mombasa Serena Resort and Spa.
Balala has been vice chairman of the Executive Committee previously but his elevation to the chairmanship is as much a recognition of Kenya as a force in world tourism as of his own personal work and achievements on the committee.
The global tourism industry is faced with many challenges at present, from the slowing economies around the globe to the crisis in the Eurozone and an array of new and planned eco taxes on aviation, used as a convenient tool by government to create easy but misdirected tax revenues levied on air tickets through carbon taxes and eco duties. Sustainability and ethics too are high on the agenda of the UNWTO in coming months and years and the executive committee will have its work cut out if it is to keep tourism on a sustained growth path.
The UNWTO general assembly this year ran from 07th of October until yesterday 13th October and was held in Geongju / South Korea. Congrats to Hon. Balala for brining this honour back to Kenya and East Africa!
