Raider is now called Twix

Dear reader,

one of the earliest viral marketing activities happened in 1991 when the caramel shortbread chocolate bar made by Mars changed its name in several European markets from Raider to Twix.

Against all marketing wisdom that made the snack more popular than ever and “Raider is now Twix” become a commonly used expression.

UNWTO might hope to achieve something similar with the change last week from UNWTO to UN Tourism. This is how it wants to be called now, complete with a new logo showing a very thin man and new slogans.

The international organisation for tourism has been called many different names since the end of the Second World War. The First International Congress of National Tourism Bodies, decided during its meeting in London to create a new international non-governmental organization to replace the International Union of Official Tourist Propaganda Organizations (IUOTPO), established in 1934. It was called International Union of Official Travel Organisations (IUOTO). On 27 September 1970, an IUOTO meeting in Mexico City adopts the Statutes of what will be called the World Tourism Organization (WTO). Never shy to celebrate its own importance in 1980 this day becomes “World Tourism Day”.

The time is right, as 1970 also sees the maiden flight of the Boeing 747 and the start of international mass tourism. The WTO General Secretariat is set up in Madrid on 1 January 1976 bringing the headquarter to Spain. It still needs many more years before in 2002 the WTO is accepted as a United Nations specialized body. However, in 1995 GATT had been renamed WTO World Trade Organisation, so that in 2005 the name is changed to UNWTO.

Now, UN Tourism. The brand in all its details has been developed by a professional company without much public discussion and consultation. “With this new brand, the organization aims to reaffirm its status as the global leader of tourism for development, driving social and economic change to ensure that ‘people and planet’ are always center stage”, as can be read in the press release about the changes.

Zurab Pololikashvili, the Secretary-General of UN Tourism, is quoted as saying: “As society progresses into the future, the tourism sector, much like many other sectors, needs to transform to serve as a catalyst for prosperity at a universal scale. Enhancing the well-being of individuals, safeguarding the natural environment, stimulating economic advancement, and fostering international harmony are key goals that are the fundamental essence of UN Tourism. The organization takes on the role of driving a sustainable force that is now central to many economies.”

Looking at the real tasks for the global tourism industry in the coming years, this statement that the necessary transformation for the tourism sector serving as a catalyst for prosperity, seems rather odd. With climate change destroying many business models and mass tourism overtaking capacity levels, more change than “safeguarding” the natural environment is certainly needed and sustainability not only central for “many economies”.

At least the headquarter of UN Tourism stays for the time being in Madrid and is not moved to Riyadh, as rumours had it past months.  

In China the travel period connected to the start of the Wood Dragon Year has commenced with positive reports at least for the domestic travel. It can be expected that despite the ongoing economic problems China’s outbound tourism will also jump to the next level of recovery.

It is therefore timely that the new online training programs CTT China Tourism Training have been published by COTRI in a new form of more than 60 self-administered sessions, each 20 minutes long and available in many different languages, thanks to AI.

This week’s edition of COTRI INTELLIGENCE includes as usual the COTRI weekly Editorial you are just reading, the text “China this week”, the News and the COTRI News about the CTT trainings in the free content part. For the Topic of the Week (Travellers intentions), the Deep Dive consulting (Demographic challenge) and the Facts and Views we invite you to consider a Premium or Premium Plus subscription and offer a special welcoming subscription for one month, celebrating the upcoming Year of the Dragon, with a 59% discount here: https://cotri-intelligence.ghost.io/welcoming-offer.

As usual, all best wishes to our readers from Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt and the entire COTRI INTELLIGENCE team!