WYSE TRAVEL CONFEDERATION SIGNS MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH UNWTO

The World Youth Student and Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederation and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have formed a strategic partnership to further support and advance the youth, student and educational travel market, worth USD 182 billion in 2013.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by David Chapman, Director General of WYSE Travel Confederation and Taleb Rifai, UNWTO's Secretary-General during the 98th Session of the UNWTO Executive Council in Santiago de Compostela, Spain last month.

As part of the signed agreement, the two parties will be working together to build awareness and proactively implement a number of projects across different aspects of the rapidly growing youth, student and educational travel sector.

This will include working on definitions of terminology in the market, research, plus the application of the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics; given the number of international youth trips is expected to reach 300 million per year by 2020, the application this code has never been more essential.

“WYSE Travel Confederation has proudly worked closely with the UNWTO for many years,” explains David Chapman. “I was honoured to sign our first MoU, which signifies the next step in our relationship and will see us cooperating on a range projects to support best practice and drive this growing market.

“I am also delighted to confirm that Carlos Vogeler, Director-Executive Secretary of Members Relations and Regional Director for the Americas at UNWTO will be speaking at our 23rd World Youth and Student Travel Conference (WYSTC 2014), which is taking place in Dublin this September.”

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About WYSE Travel Confederation

• The World Youth Student and Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederation is a global not-for-profit membership organisation dedicated to promoting and developing opportunities for the youth, student and educational travel industry.
• Founded in 2006 and created from the merger of the Federation of International Youth Travel organisations (FIYTO) and the International Student Travel Confederation (ISTC) - both formed in the 1940s to inspire young people through international travel and to help remove cultural barriers - the confederation brings together 60 years of youth travel expertise.
• WYSE Travel Confederation is endorsed by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and UNESCO.
• Providing international travel experiences to over 30 million youth and students each year, WYSE Travel Confederation's global community of over 800 members spans more than 120 countries from a diverse range of sectors.
• From adventure tour operators to au pair agencies, cultural exchange programmes to language schools, hop-on-hop-off buses to student insurance and youth hostels to volunteer programmes, WYSE Travel Confederation is the world's most powerful network of youth and student travel professionals, connecting key industry players with decision makers and government officials.
• The Confederation is committed to understanding the ever-changing characteristics, motivations and needs of young travellers. By gathering, analysing and sharing important market intelligence with members, academics and government decision-makers, the unique fast-changing needs of the youth market is at the forefront of its activities as it seeks to accelerate the development of youth travel.
• For more information, visit www.wysetc.org or follow the organisation on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.