This is an extract of the Code of Ethics for Tourism made by the United Nations World Tourism Organization. If you want to read the full text, please click here.
Tourism’s contribution to mutual understanding and respect between peoples and societies
1. The understanding and promotion of the ethical values common to humanity, with an attitude of tolerance and respect for the diversity of religious, philosophical and moral beliefs, are both the foundation and the consequence of responsible tourism; stakeholders in tourism development and tourists themselves should observe the social and cultural traditions
and practices of all peoples, including those of minorities and indigenous peoples and to recognize their worth;
2. Tourism activities should be conducted in harmony with the attributes and traditions of the host regions and countries and in respect for their laws, practices and customs;
3. The host communities, on the one hand, and local professionals, on the other, should acquaint themselves with and respect the tourists who visit them and find out about their lifestyles, tastes and expectations; the education and training imparted to professionals contribute to a hospitable welcome;
4. It is the task of the public authorities to provide protection for tourists and visitors and their belongings; they must pay particular attention to the safety of foreign tourists owing to the particular vulnerability they may have; they should facilitate the introduction of specific means of information, prevention, security, insurance and assistance consistent with their needs; any attacks, assaults, kidnappings or threats against tourists or workers in the tourism industry, as well as the wilful destruction of tourism facilities or of elements of cultural or natural heritage should be severely condemned and punished in accordance with their respective national laws;
5. When travelling, tourists and visitors should not commit any criminal act or any act considered criminal by the laws of the country visited and abstain from any conduct felt to be offensive or injurious by the local populations, or likely to damage the local environment; they should refrain from all trafficking in illicit drugs, arms, antiques, protected species and products and substances that are dangerous or prohibited by national regulations;
6. Tourists and visitors have the responsibility to acquaint themselves, even before their departure, with the characteristics of the countries they are preparing to visit; they must be aware of the health and security risks inherent in
any travel outside their usual environment and behave in such a way as to minimize those risks;
Tourism as a vehicle for individual and collective fulfilment
1. Tourism, the activity most frequently associated with rest and relaxation, sport and access to culture and nature, should be planned and practised as a privileged means of individual and collective fulfilment; when practised with a sufficiently open mind, it is an irreplaceable factor of self-education, mutual tolerance and for learning about the legitimate differences between peoples and cultures and their diversity;
2. Tourism activities should respect the equality of men and women; they should promote human rights and, more particularly, the individual rights of the most vulnerable groups, notably children, the elderly, the handicapped, ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples;
3. The exploitation of human beings in any form, particularly sexual, especially when applied to children, conflicts with the fundamental aims of tourism and is the negation of tourism; as such, in accordance with international law, it should be energetically combatted with the cooperation of all the States concerned and penalized without concession by the national
legislation of both the countries visited and the countries of the perpetrators of these acts, even when they are carried out abroad;
4. Travel for purposes of religion, health, education and cultural or linguistic exchanges are particularly beneficial forms of tourism, which deserve encouragement;
5. The introduction into curricula of education about the value of tourist exchanges, their economic, social and cultural benefits, and also their risks, should be encouraged;
Tourism, a factor of sustainable development
1. All the stakeholders in tourism development should safeguard the natural environment with a view to achieving sound, continuous and sustainable economic growth geared to satisfying equitably the needs and aspirations of present and future generations;
2. All forms of tourism development that are conducive to saving rare and precious resources, in particular water and energy, as well as avoiding so far as possible waste production, should be given priority and encouraged by national, regional and local public authorities;
3. The staggering in time and space of tourist and visitor flows, particularly those resulting from paid leave and school holidays, and a more even distribution of holidays should be sought so as to reduce the pressure of tourism activity on the environment and enhance its beneficial impact on the tourism industry and the local economy;
4. Tourism infrastructure should be designed and tourism activities programmed in such a way as to protect the natural heritage composed of ecosystems and biodiversity and to preserve endangered species of wildlife; the stakeholders in tourism development, and especially professionals, should agree to the imposition of limitations or constraints on their activities when these are exercised in particularly sensitive areas: desert, polar or high mountain regions, coastal areas, tropical forests or wetlands, propitious to the creation of nature reserves or protected areas;
5. Nature tourism and ecotourism are recognized as being particularly conducive to enriching and enhancing the standing of tourism, provided they respect the natural heritage and local populations and are in keeping with the carrying
capacity of the sites;
Tourism, a user of the cultural heritage of mankind and a contributor to its enhancement
1. Tourism resources belong to the
common heritage of mankind; the
communities in whose territories
they are situated have particular
rights and obligations to them;
2. Tourism policies and activities
should be conducted with respect
for the artistic, archaeological and
cultural heritage, which they
should protect and pass on to
future generations; particular care
should be devoted to preserving
and upgrading monuments, shrines
and museums as well as archaeological
and historic sites which must
be widely open to tourist visits;
encouragement should be given to
public access to privately-owned
cultural property and monuments,
with respect for the rights of their
owners, as well as to religious
buildings, without prejudice to
normal needs of worship;
3. Financial resources derived from
visits to cultural sites and monuments
should, at least in part, be
used for the upkeep, safeguard,
development and embellishment
of this heritage;
4. Tourism activity should be
planned in such a way as to allow
traditional cultural products, crafts
and folklore to survive and flourish,
rather than causing them to degenerate
and become standardized;
Tourism, a beneficial activity for host countries and communities
1. Local populations should be associated
with tourism activities and
share equitably in the economic,
social and cultural benefits they
generate, and particularly in the
creation of direct and indirect jobs
resulting from them;
2. Tourism policies should be
applied in such a way as to help to
raise the standard of living of the
populations of the regions visited
and meet their needs; the planning
and architectural approach to and
operation of tourism resorts and
accommodation should aim to integrate
them, to the extent possible,
in the local economic and social fabric;
where skills are equal, priority
should be given to local manpower;
3. Special attention should be paid
to the specific problems of coastal
areas and island territories and to
vulnerable rural or mountain
regions, for which tourism often
represents a rare opportunity for
development in the face of the
decline of traditional economic
activities;
4. Tourism professionals, particularly
investors, governed by the regulations
laid down by the public
authorities, should carry out studies
of the impact of their development
projects on the environment and
natural surroundings; they should
also deliver, with the greatest
transparency and objectivity, information
on their future programmes
and their foreseeable
repercussions and foster dialogue
on their contents with the populations
concerned;
Obligations of stakeholders in tourism development
1. Tourism professionals have an
obligation to provide tourists
with objective and honest information
on their places of destination
and on the conditions of travel,
hospitality and stays; they
should ensure that the contractual
clauses proposed to their customers
are readily understandable
as to the nature, price and
quality of the services they commit
themselves to providing and
the financial compensation
payable by them in the event of a
unilateral breach of contract on
their part;
2. Tourism professionals, insofar
as it depends on them, should
show concern, in cooperation
with the public authorities, for
the security and safety, accident
prevention, health protection and
food safety of those who seek
their services; likewise, they
should ensure the existence of
suitable systems of insurance and
assistance; they should accept the
reporting obligations prescribed
by national regulations and pay
fair compensation in the event of
failure to observe their contractual
obligations;
3. Tourism professionals, so far as
this depends on them, should contribute
to the cultural and spiritual
fulfilment of tourists and allow
them, during their travels, to
practise their religions;
4. The public authorities of the
generating States and the host
countries, in cooperation with the
professionals concerned and their
associations, should ensure that
the necessary mechanisms are in
place for the repatriation of
tourists in the event of the bankruptcy
of the enterprise that
organized their travel;
5. Governments have the right –
and the duty - especially in a crisis,
to inform their nationals of the
difficult circumstances, or even
the dangers they may encounter
during their travels abroad; it is
their responsibility however to
issue such information without
prejudicing in an unjustified or
exaggerated manner the tourism
industry of the host countries and
the interests of their own operators;
the contents of travel advisories
should therefore be discussed
beforehand with the
authorities of the host countries
and the professionals concerned;
recommendations formulated
should be strictly proportionate
to the gravity of the situations
encountered and confined to the
geographical areas where the
insecurity has arisen; such advisories
should be qualified or cancelled
as soon as a return to normality
permits;
6. The press, and particularly the
specialized travel press and the
other media, including modern
means of electronic communication,
should issue honest and balanced
information on events and
situations that could influence the
flow of tourists; they should also
provide accurate and reliable
information to the consumers of
tourism services; the new communication
and electronic commerce
technologies should also be developed
and used for this purpose;
as is the case for the media,
they should not in any way promote
sex tourism;
Right to tourism
1. The prospect of direct and personal
access to the discovery and
enjoyment of the planet’s resources
constitutes a right equally
open to all the world’s inhabitants;
the increasingly extensive
participation in national and
international tourism should be
regarded as one of the best possible
expressions of the sustained
growth of free time, and obstacles
should not be placed in its
way;
2. The universal right to tourism
must be regarded as the corollary
of the right to rest and leisure,
including reasonable limitation of
working hours and periodic holidays
with pay, guaranteed by
Article 24 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and
Article 7.d of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights;
3. Social tourism, and in particular
associative tourism, which facilitates
widespread access to leisure,
travel and holidays, should be
developed with the support of the
public authorities;
4. Family, youth, student and senior
tourism and tourism for people
with disabilities, should be
encouraged and facilitated;
Liberty of tourist movements
1. Tourists and visitors should benefit,
in compliance with
international law and national
legislation, from the liberty to
move within their countries and
from one State to another, in
accordance with Article 13 of the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights; they should have access to
places of transit and stay and to
tourism and cultural sites without
being subject to excessive formalities
or discrimination;
2. Tourists and visitors should
have access to all available forms
of communication, internal or
external; they should benefit from
prompt and easy access to local
administrative, legal and health
services; they should be free to
contact the consular representatives
of their countries of origin in
compliance with the diplomatic
conventions in force;
3. Tourists and visitors should benefit
from the same rights as the
citizens of the country visited concerning
the confidentiality of the
personal data and information
concerning them, especially when
these are stored electronically;
4. Administrative procedures
relating to border crossings
whether they fall within the competence
of States or result from
international agreements, such as
visas or health and customs formalities,
should be adapted, so far
as possible, so as to facilitate to
the maximum freedom of travel
and widespread access to international
tourism; agreements
between groups of countries to
harmonize and simplify these procedures
should be encouraged;
specific taxes and levies penalizing
the tourism industry and
undermining its competitiveness
should be gradually phased out or
corrected;
5. So far as the economic situation
of the countries from which they
come permits, travellers should
have access to allowances of convertible currencies needed for
their travels;
Rights of the workers and entrepreneurs in the tourism industry
1. The fundamental rights of
salaried and self-employed workers
in the tourism industry and
related activities, should be guaranteed
under the supervision of
the national and local administrations,
both of their States of origin
and of the host countries with
particular care, given the specific
constraints linked in particular to
the seasonality of their activity,
the global dimension of their
industry and the flexibility often
required of them by the nature of
their work;
2. Salaried and self-employed
workers in the tourism industry
and related activities have the
right and the duty to acquire
appropriate initial and continuous
training; they should be given
adequate social protection; job
insecurity should be limmited so
far as possible; and a specific status,
with particular regard to their
social welfare, should be offered
to seasonal workers in the sector;
3. Any natural or legal person,
provided he, she or it has the necessary
abilities and skills, should
be entitled to develop a professional
activity in the field of
tourism under existing national
laws; entrepreneurs and investors
- especially in the area of small
and medium-sized enterprises -
should be entitled to free access
to the tourism sector with a minimum
of legal or administrative
restrictions;
4. Exchanges of experience offered
to executives and workers,
whether salaried or not, from different
countries, contributes to
foster the development of the
world tourism industry; these
movements should be facilitated
so far as possible in compliance
with the applicable national laws
and international conventions;
5. As an irreplaceable factor of
solidarity in the development and
dynamic growth of international
exchanges, multinational enterprises
of the tourism industry
should not exploit the dominant
positions they sometimes occupy;
they should avoid becoming the
vehicles of cultural and social
models artificially imposed on the
host communities; in exchange for
their freedom to invest and trade
which should be fully recognized,
they should involve themselves in
local development, avoiding, by
the excessive repatriation of their
profits or their induced imports, a
reduction of their contribution to
the economies in which they are
established;
6. Partnership and the establishment
of balanced relations
between enterprises of generating
and receiving countries contribute
to the sustainable devellopment
of tourism and an equitable
distribution of the benefits
of its growth;
Implementation of the principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism
1. The public and private stakeholders
in tourism development
should cooperate in the implementation
of these principles and
monitor their effective application;
2. The stakeholders in tourism
development should recognize
the role of international institutions,
among which the World
Tourism Organization ranks first,
and non-governmental organizations
with competence in the field
of tourism promotion and development,
the protection of human
rights, the environment or health,
with due respect for the general
principles of international law;
3. The same stakeholders should
demonstrate their intention to
refer any disputes concerning the
application or interpretation of
the Global Code of Ethics for
Tourism for conciliation to an
impartial third body known as the
World Committee on Tourism
Ethics.
