GCET

By: Reporter 2
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

GCET
is a comprehensive set of principles whose purpose is to
guide stakeholders in tourism development: central and
local governments, local communities, the tourism
industry and its professionals, as well as visitors, both
international and domestic.

Based on the GCET, there are 10 salient elements of the

code as detailed in the articles. These encompass nearly
all facets and sectors of the tourism industry.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 1:
Tourism's contribution to mutual understanding and respect between peoples and
societies 116

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 1:
Tourism's contribution to mutual understanding and respect between peoples and
societies 116

2. Tourism activities should be conducted in harmony with the attributes and traditions
of the host regions and countries and with 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 1:
Tourism's contribution to mutual understanding and respect between peoples and
societies 116

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 willful destruction of tourism facilities or elements
of cultural or natural heritage, should be severely condemned and punished in
accordance with their respective national laws.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 1:
Tourism's contribution to mutual understanding and respect between peoples and
societies 116

5. When traveling, 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 1:
Tourism's contribution to mutual understanding and respect between peoples and
societies 116

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 2: Tourism as a vehicle for individual and collective fulfillment"

1. Tourism, the activity most frequently associated with rest and relaxation, sport and
access to culture and nature, should be planned and practiced as a privileged means of
individual and collective fulfillment; when practiced 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 2: Tourism as a vehicle for individual and collective fulfillment"

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 2: Tourism as a vehicle for individual and collective fulfillment"

4. Travel for purposes of religion, health, education, and cultural or linguistic exchanges
are encouragement. 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 3: Tourism as a factor of sustainable development

1. All the stakeholders in tourism development should safeguard the natural environment
to achieve 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 3: Tourism as a factor of sustainable development

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 3: Tourism as a factor of sustainable development

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,
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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 3: Tourism as a factor of sustainable development

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 4: Tourism, a user of the cultural heritage of mankind and 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 4: Tourism, a user of the cultural heritage of mankind and contributor to its
enhancement.

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 4: Tourism, a user of the cultural heritage of mankind and contributor to its
enhancement.

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 5: Tourism as 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 5: Tourism as a beneficial activity for host countries and communities

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 6: Obligations of stakeholders in tourism development

1. Tourism professionals should 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 provide and the financial
compensation payable by them in the event of a unilateral breach of contract on
their part.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 6: Obligations of stakeholders in tourism development

2. Tourism professionals, insofar as it depends on them, should show concern, in co-
operation 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 fulfillment of tourists and allow them, during their travels, to practice their
religions.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 6: Obligations of stakeholders in tourism development

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 6: Obligations of stakeholders in tourism development

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 canceled as soon as a return to normality
permits.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 6: Obligations of stakeholders in tourism development

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 7: 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 t and
leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay,
guaranteed by Article 24 of the Universal Declaration of rest Human Rights and Article 7.d of
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 7: Right to tourism

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 8: 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 8: Liberty of tourist movements.

3. Tourists and visitors should benefit from the same rights as the citizens of the country
visited concerning the confidentiality of their 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, 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 8: Liberty of tourist movements.

5. So far as the economic situation of the countries from which they come permits, travelers
should have access to allowances of convertible currencies needed for their travels.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 9: 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 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
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 9: Rights of the workers and entrepreneurs in the tourism industry

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, contribute to fostering the development of the world tourism industry;
these movements should be facilitated as far as possible in compliance with the applicable
national laws and international conventions.
 Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 9: Rights of the workers and entrepreneurs in the tourism industry

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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 9: Rights of the workers and entrepreneurs in the tourism industry

6. Partnership and the establishment of balanced relations between enterprises of generating
and receiving countries contribute to the sustainable development of tourism and an
equitable distribution of the benefits of its growth.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 10: 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.
Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism

Article 10: Implementation of the principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism
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.
Embrace each challenges in
your life as an opportunity
for self-transformation.
-Bernie Siegel
THANK YOU