UNWTO NEXT SECRETARY GENERAL? MANY CANDIDATES FROM AFRICA IT SEEMS…
aTP- Arab tourism portal News- CONTACTS FROM AFRICA ARE REPORTING THAT AT LEAST FOUR TOURISM MINISTERS COULD ALL BE VYING FOR THE POSITION OF SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNWTO WHEN THE TERM OF TALEB RIFAI COMES TO ITS END. THEY WILL BE OVER AND ABOVE TWO POSSIBLE CANDIDATES FROM INSIDE THE UNWTO BODY ITSELF.
ON 19 NOVEMBER 2015 ETN REPORTED ON POSSIBLE SIX CANDIDATES WHOSE NAMES WERE BEING MENTIONED IN CORRIDORS AND AT TOURISM GATHERINGS.
FOLLOWING ON FROM THAT ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY ONE TOURISM MINISTER HAS BEEN ACTIVELY LOBBYING AND CANVASSING AND THIS IS NON OTHER THAN THE MINISTER FROM ZIMBABWE, DR. WALTER MZEMBI WHO HAS BEEN RECEIVING ENDORSEMENTS AND SUPPORT FROM A BIT EVERYWHERE.
BUT IT HAS COME OUT IN VARIOUS AFRICAN PRESS THAT MORE CANDIDATES FROM AFRICA ARE PREPARING TO ANNOUNCE THEIR CANDIDACY AT THE COMING UNWTO EGYPT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING.
THE MINISTER FROM MOROCCO LAHCEN HADDAD HAS ALREADY LAUNCHED HIS BID AND FROM EAST AFRICA IT IS BELIEVED THAT NAJIB BALALA, THE MINISTER FROM KENYA IS BEING PUSHED BY SOME OF HIS TOURISM MINISTER COLLEAGUES TO PUT HIS NAME FORWARD.
FROM THE INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS OF THE SEYCHELLES THE NAME OF ALAIN ST.ANGE WAS MENTIONED IN 2015 AND HIS NAME RESURFACES AGAIN NOW THAT THE NOMINATIONS ARE GETTING CLOSER. ALL FOUR ARE INDEED SEEN AS BEING STRONG CANDIDATES FROM THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA.
FROM THE AMERICAS THE NAME OF GLORIA GUEVARA MANZO, A FORMER MINISTER OF TOURISM FROM MEXICO IS STILL BEING MOOTED BY MANY COUNTRIES FROM SOUTH AMERICA. CHINA IS SEEN AS A GOOD SUPPORTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS BODY AND THE NEWS IS THAT THEY ARE LOOKING SERIOUSLY AT HAVING A CANDIDATE FOR THE COMING ELECTIONS. THIS COULD CHANGE ALL THE GROUPINGS ALREADY FORMED IN SUPPORT OF POTENTIAL CANDIDATES.
BUT INTERESTINGLY TWO ‘INSIDER CANDIDATES’ NAMES ARE ALSO MORE THAN EVER BEFOR BEING DISCUSSED FAIRLY OPENLY AND THESE ARE CARLOS VOGELER AND FAVILLA LUCCA DE PAULA BOTH ARE SENIOR MEMBERS OF THE UNWTO TEAM. MR. VOGELER WAS BORN IN VENEZUELA AND IS A NATIONAL OF SPAIN AND VENEZUELA AND ON HIS PART MR. FAVILLA LUCCA DE PAULA IS A BRAZILIAN NATIONAL.
IT IS TODAY ACCEPTED THAT THE CURRENT SECRETARY GENERAL TALEB RIFAI HAS BEEN A DEPENDABLE FIXTURE WITH THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION (UNWTO) FOR NEARLY A DECADE. WHEN YOU HEAR THE TITLE OF UNWTO SECRETARY GENERAL, HIS NAME AND FACE AUTOMATICALLY COMES TO MIND.
TALEB BECAME THE SECRETARY GENERAL IN MARCH 2009, SERVING BEFORE THAT AS THE DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UN AGENCY OVERLOOKING WORLD TOURISM FROM FEBRUARY 2006 TO FEBRUARY 2009. TALEB RIFAI DISCLOSED TO MINISTERS ATTENDING THE WORLD TRAVEL MARKET IN LONDON EARLIER THIS MONTH THAT HE IS GOING TO RESIGN AS SECRETARY GENERAL AT THE NEXT GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN 2017 TO BE HELD IN CHENGDU, CHINA.
THIS WILL OPEN UP THE HIGHEST GOVERNMENT POSITION IN THE GLOBAL TRAVEL AND TOURISM WORLD.
SO WHO WILL BE THE NEXT SECRETARY GENERAL POSITION?
THERE IS SOME TIME, AND ONE MAN ALONE IS CAMPAIGNING BUT AS THE WORLD OF TOURISM KNOWS OTHER POSSIBLE NAMES ARE SURFACING.
