Julia Simpson, CEO of WTTC, and Zurab Pololikashvil, Secretary General of the UNWTO, proudly showed a document folder last week with an MOU taking credit for bringing the public and private travel and tourism industry together. This MOU was signed on the sideline of the G20 Ministerial meeting in Goa, India.
The MOU only showed the UNWTO logo, and there may be a reason for this. It appears this was a publicity stand to steal credit from the hard work of former UNWTO Secretary General Dr. Taleb Rifai and David Scowsill, the former CEO of WTTC, in 2016/2017. In 2016 and 2017
In May 2017, the head of these two organizations jointly delivered an open letter about the importance of tourism to 89 heads of state, speaking with one voice, the voice of global tourism to the world. When Zurab took the helm of the World Tourism Organisation in January 2018, he destroyed this win/win relationship with WTTC while on a mission to destroy the legacy of his predecessor Dr. Taleb Rifai.
Dr. Taleb Rifai was not invited to attend the 23rd General Assembly of UNWTO in St. Petersburg, Russia, in September 2019. The newly appointed CEO of WTTC, Gloria Guevara, did attend the General Assembly in Russia but did not prominently speak and was seated in the back of the room.
Without a doubt, the close cooperation between the two organisations was history then, but a massive success by the previous leadership for both organisations. Ironically the person who destroyed this vital link between the private and public sector cooperation now wants to get the credit for signing an MOU he dictated to WTTC.
Ironically both organisations are going through tough times and are weakened. Showing the UNWTO logo only on the MOU document’s cover speaks for itself. The official media pitch to interview WTTC CEO Julian came from Margot Delville, representing WTTC through her New York-based PR agency NJFPR. She said in her letter Observer recognized her PR agency as one of the 50 most powerful PR Firms.
The news pitch said: If you’re interested in speaking with the WTTC about initiatives underway or projections on economic development, please let me know. There was no response from Margot or anyone from this powerful PR agency when writing, leaving two phone messages, and even calling the company headquarters.
There was no response when reaching out to WTTC and UNWTO directly. Amid conversations about the importance of the travel & tourism segment to economies worldwide and the continued growth of the sector, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and UNWTO signed an MoU to advance public-private sector cooperation.
