Canada to Preside Over the WTO Statistics Committee

With a view to underline the recognition and importance of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), the World Tourism Organization is planning a new World Conference for the year 2005 to explain the usefulness of this body.

During its fifth meeting held in mid March, the Tourism Statistics and Macroeconomic Analyses Committee picked Canada to lead the chairmanship of the group for a term ending in 2007. Canada is represented by Scott Meis, executive director of research for the Canadian Tourism Commission. Spain (Institute of Tourism Studies) and France (Direction Générale du Tourisme) will take the two deputy chairmanships.

For this new term, the Committee will be formed by all member states (Canada, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, Spain, Philippines, France, India, Israel, Mexico, Mozambique and Tunisia), its associated member (Aruba), representatives of affiliated members (Centro Internazionale di Studi e ricerche sull´ Economia Turistica - CISET, International Congress & Convention Association - ICCA, International Hotel & Restaurant Association - IH&RA, MasterCard International), observers (non-member states: Australia, United States, Singapore and Sweden) and institutions (Statistics Office of the European Communities – EUROSTAT, the World Labor Organization, the Economic Cooperation and Development Organization, Ufficio Italiano dei Cambi - UIC, and the World Travel and Tourism Council -CMVT).