Cambodia, the Maldives, and Indonesia join the International Code for the Protection of Tourists, according to UNWTO
The movement by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) to develop a common charter for protection of tourists worldwide has been gaining traction as more countries sign on to it.
UNWTO says that its International Code for the Protection of Tourists has added three new signatories: Cambodia, the Maldives, and Indonesia. Likewise, the UNWTO’s Member States in the Asia and Pacific region have ratified the Phnom Penh Declaration on the Code, promoting its adoption and implementation as a crucial tool to guarantee clear, transparent, and effective frameworks to protect tourists as consumers and promote travel confidence.
In a press statement, UNWTO says the International Code for the Protection of Tourists is the first ever legal instrument designed to create internationally recognised standards for the protection of tourists at the global level. The Code was created by UNWTO with the active participation of more than 100 countries, international organisations, tourism experts and private sector stakeholders, which provides greater legal clarity to States through a common and harmonised framework on how to assist tourists in emergency situations and help them develop laws, regulations and policies for the protection of tourists as consumers. It adds that formally adopted at the 24th UNWTO General Assembly in December 2021, member states were invited to apply it at the national level.
UNWTO says that Cambodia, the Maldives and Indonesia are the latest national-level signatories, who join Ecuador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Moldova, Myanmar, Paraguay, Portugal and Uruguay.
Zurab Pololikashvili
“People want to feel safe and protected when they travel and UNWTO has led the way in creating the first legal tool that will help restore trust in travel. The number of countries joining this initiative to incorporate it into national legislations keeps growing and we are proud to welcome Cambodia, the Maldives and Indonesia as the newest signatories,” says UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili.
A conference on the International Code was held as part of the 35th Joint Meeting of the Regional Commission for East Asia and the Pacific and the Commission for South Asia, which took place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from June 15 to 17, and gave regional tourism leaders a forum to exchange knowledge, best practises, and lessons learned about how this legal tool supports tourism recovery and trust following the severe crisis brought on by the pandemic.
UNWTO adds that the conference counted on unprecedented high-level participation of delegations from Asia and the Pacific countries, including the Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia, Ministers of Tourism from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives and the Philippines and Vice Ministers of Tourism of China and Iran.
