International Tourism Related Organization

International Tourism Related Organization

Introduction

For any industry or discipline to develop, an organization is an essential pre-requisite as it plays a vital role in its proper planning, development and growth. The aim of the organization is to deploy into working functions or purposes so as to move efficiently to obtain a desired result from their combined effort. Members of an organisation with a similar discipline thus make a combined effort to develop their discipline.

In the field of tourism, organizations emerged with the objective of developing and promoting the area of tourism. The nationals and interna­tional tourism organizations have played a significant role in strengthen­ing the industry. Various national and international organizations in the field of tourism are in operation today. Some of these organizations are specifically linked with the development and promotion of tourism and others deal with the co-ordination and control of a group of subsidiary services such as accommodation, catering, travel agency etc.

The history of co-operative endeavor in tourism can be traced back to the year 1908. Three countries – France, Spain and Portugal felt the need for pooling their interest of promoting tourism and founded the ‘Franco Hispano Portuguese Federation of Tourist association’. This might perhaps be considered as the first international tourist organization. Although started in a modest way and limited to a small region in Europe, this association made a beginning in co-operative endeavour in the field of tourism and paved the way for such future initiatives on a very large scale.

United Nation World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), an inter-governmental technical body dealing with all aspects of tourism began its legal existence on January 2, 1975. It was originally called as World Tourism Organization, prior to the World Trade Organization which was formulated in 1990. The rapid expansion of travel had created the need for a world body able to deal with tourism problems at the governmental level and this led to the formation of UNWTO. The headquarters of the organization were set up in Madrid (Spain) in January 1976. The UNWTO has a very emphatic technical character.

World Tourism Organization is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UNWTO promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

UNWTO encourages the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, to maximize tourism’s socio-economic contribution while minimizing its possible negative impacts, and is committed to promoting tourism as an instrument in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), geared towards reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development. UNWTO generates market knowledge, promotes competitive and sustainable tourism policies and instruments, fosters tourism education and training, and works to make tourism an effective tool for development through technical assistance projects in over 100 countries around the world.

UNWTO’s membership includes 155 countries, 7 territories and over 400 Affiliate Members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities.

Objectives

• Promotion and development of tourism with a view to contributing to economic development, international understanding, peace, prosperity and universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction to either race, sex, language or religion.
• Uplift and stimulate the interest of the developing countries in the field of tourism.
• Maintain effective collaboration with the appropriate organs of the UN and its specialized agencies.

Functions

The UNWTO performs a number of activities for its members relating to promotion and development of tourism. The major functions include:

• Constant review of tourism trends and developments and exercising vigilance over changes in world economic and social conditions affecting tourism, market fluctuations and maintenance of standards within the tourism sector.
• Clearing house for all available information on international and domestic tourism including statistical data, legislation and regulations, facilities and special events.
• Systematic collection, analysis and dissemination of data on various aspects of tourism.
• Collecting legislative texts, regulations and documentation on all aspects of travel.
• Conducting research studies covering tourism markets, plant and enterprises, physical planning and area development, promotion and marketing, economic analysis and financing techniques etc.
• Regular supply of studies, as well as updated information on trends in the various fields of tourism to its members.
• Fostering the adoption of measures in cooperation with competent specialized bodies regarding simplifying frontier formalities and removing barriers to the free movement of tourists.
• Organizing and convening international conferences, seminars, workshops, round tables and technical meetings on all aspects of tourism.
• Preparation of draft international agreements on tourism
• Examining vocational training programmes with a view to contributing to the establishment of suitable teaching programmes tailored to specific needs, especially in the developing countries.

Members

There are three categories of members in UNWTO. They are

• Full Members: – They consist of all sovereign states. As of 2010, its membership included 154 member states.
• Associate Members: – They are the territories or groups of territories not responsible for their external relations but whose membership is approved by the state assuming responsibility for their external relations. As of 2010 there were seven associate members (Flemish Community, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Hong Kong, Macau, Madeira, Netherlands Antilles), two observers (Holy See, Palestine). 15 of these members have withdrawn from the organization for different periods in the past: Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, Thailand and Puerto Rico.
• Affiliate Members: – They are international bodies, both inter-governmental and non-governmental concerned with specialized interests in tourism, as well as commercial and non-commercial bodies and associations hose activities are related to the aims of WTO or fall within its competence. There are some 350 affiliate members, representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities.

Structure

• General Assembly: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. Its ordinary sessions, held every two years, are attended by delegates of the Full and Associate Members, as well as representatives from the Business Council. It is the most important meeting of senior tourism officials and high-level sector from all over the world representatives of the private.
• Regional Commissions: Established in 1975 as subsidiary organs of the General Assembly, the six Regional Commissions normally meet once a year. They enable member States to maintain contact with one another and with the Secretariat between sessions of the General Assembly, to which they submit their proposals and convey their concerns. Each Commission elects one Chairman and its Vice-Chairmen from among its Members for a term of two years commencing from one session to the next session of the Assembly.
• Executive Council: The Executive Councils task is to take all necessary measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of its own decisions and recommendations of the Assembly and report thereon to the Assembly. The Council meets at least twice a year. The Council consists of Full Members elected by the Assembly in the proportion of one Member for every five Full Members, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure laid down by the Assembly with a view to achieving fair and equitable geographical distribution.

The term of office of Members elected to the Council is four years and elections for one-half of the Council membership are held every two years. Spain is a Permanent Member of the Executive Council.

• Committees
• World Committee on Tourism Ethics
• Programme Committee
• Committee on Budget and Finance
• Committee on Market and Competitiveness
• Committee on Statistics and the Tourism Satellite account
• Sustainable Development of Tourism Committee
• Committee on Poverty Reduction
• Committee for the Review of Applications for Affiliate Membership

 Secretariat

The Secretariat is led by Secretary-General and interim TalebRifai of Jordan, who supervises about 110 full-time staff at UNWTO›s Madrid Headquarters. He is assisted by the Deputy Secretary-General. These officials are responsible for implementing UNWTO›s programme of work and serving the needs of Members. The Affiliate Members are supported by a full-time Executive Director at the Madrid Headquarters. The Secretariat also includes a regional support office for Asia-Pacific in Osaka, Japan, financed by the Japanese Government.

The organization is performing extremely useful service of a concrete and creative character by facilitating the exchange of technical information, the making of specialized studies, the holding of special seminars adapted to world regional requirements and advanced vocational training courses. The essentially practical nature of its work programme, tailored as it is to regional requirements, takes full cognizance of the problems peculiar to countries and regions in all stages of its development, such as investments, financial questions, physical planning and area development, economic analysis, marketing and market surveys- all this not only with a secretarial approach but with a comprehensive concern from the point of view of the state.

The creation of UNWTO coincided with the universal recognition of tourism as an important instrument of economic and social development and its consequent ascendancy to full government responsibility. An inter-governmental body of tourism officials, such as the UNWTO is empowered to act in the name of their governments and speak in terms of the impact of tourism on the balance of payments. The creation of UNWTO thus is not only a proof that the states are fully conscious of their own responsibilities in the field of tourism, but also of the establishment of tourism to its rightful ranking at the international level.

The UNWTO’s activities cover all sectors of tourism on a worldwide basis. It provides an international forum where tourism officials, whether governmental or non-governmental, can discuss problems and exchange ideas. Representatives of the private sector also have access to its membership. UNWTO works in close cooperation with almost all international organizations, the UNO in particular, as well as with commercial and non-commercial bodies involved in tourism.

for detail https://www.untourism.int/

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) was founded in the year 1951 as a non-profit corporation to stimulate interest in the Pacific region as a vacation land, and to develop, promote and facilitate travel to and among the many Pacific destinations. PATA’s first conference was held in January 1952 in Honolulu and its headquarters were established in San Francisco, USA in 1953. PATA has its own Director for Europe who is based in London and works to promote traffic from the European markets into the Pacific region. PATA’s first Asian office was opened in Manila, Philippines in 1976.

The organization provides the meeting point for the people involved in all aspects of the travel trade from a large number of countries. It focuses attention on travel opportunities in member countries and builds up greater awareness and specific contacts among the travel trade in countries from where the tourists originate. The underlying philosophy of PATA is that the entire travel industry must work together to develop an ever-increasing flow of pleasure travel from which each member will derive a fair share of the total business.

As a non-profit organization PATA was set up with the objective of developing, promoting and facilitating travel to and within the Pacific area and South East Asian region. It primarily operates in the United States market which is the world’s biggest travel market. The organization provides the meeting point for the people involved in all aspects of the travel trade from a large number of countries. It focuses attention on travel opportunities in member countries and builds up greater awareness and specific contacts among the travel trade in countries from where the tourists originate. The underlying philosophy of PATA is that the entire travel industry must work together to develop an ever-increasing flow of pleasure travel from which each member will derive a fair share of the total business

Functions

• Assist small and up- coming destinations to develop their infrastructure, providing expertise, and planning group travel schemes.
• Provide up-to-date information and practical and theoretical experience in the field of tourism.
• Developing tactical destination marketing programmes.
• Organize educational and training programmes for human resource development.\
• Organize annual conferences, seminars and workshops to discuss the developmental issues.
• Promote Asia Pacific region as major tourist destination.
• Publish travel hand books and manuals such as Pacific travel news, Hotel directory, travel guide etc.

 Members

PATA has following nine categories of members:

• Active Government Members consist of primary official organizations designated by the government of any nation, territory, or political division, wholly or partially in the Pacific area.
• Associate Government Members consist of nay organization charged with the responsibility of the domestic or overseas promotion of tourism as designated by the government of any nation, territory, or political division, either situated outside the Pacific area, or situated within the Pacific area but not being the primary official organization designated for the overseas promotion of travel, or not meeting other criteria as might be required for active government members.
• Active Carrier Members consist of any governmental recognized, registered or certified air or steamship line operating vehicles having individual passenger capacity in excess of twelve passengers and providing regular scheduled common carrier passenger service to and within the service area.
• Associate Carrier Members consist of any government recognized passenger carrier operation vehicles each having a passenger capacity of twelve or fewer passengers and providing regular scheduled common carriage passenger service or having a passengercapacity in excess of twelve passengers but not providing passenger service on the regular common carriage basis as prescribed for active carrier members.
• Active Industry Members consist of hotel organization having management authority as distinguished from mere sales, advertising or reservation direction, over one or more hotels with a total of one thousand or more guest rooms in one or more Pacific areas, tour operation organizations excluding air or ship transportation.
• Allied members consist of travel agencies, tour operators, hotel representatives and firms serving as general agents or representing various segments of the Pacific travel industry
• Affiliated Allied consist of branch offices of an allied member travel agency or tour operator.
• Associate Members consist of individual operating organisations and firms such as communication media, media representatives, advertising, public relations and research agencies having definite interest in Pacific travel.
• Sustaining Members consist of those organisations, firms or individuals whose commercial or cultural interests, in the judgment of the Board of Directors, will further contribute to the aims of the Association.

Activities

The Pacific Asia Travel Association performs a variety of functions. These include:

• Pacific Travel Conference and Workshop: During the first four months of each year, PATA sponsors and organizes a conference of its members with the objectives of reviewing the progress, exchanging ideas and planning for future programmes. These meetings are held at different areas. The annual conferences attract a large number of delegates from all over the world. The conference also serves as a unique promotional tool for the host government providing an opportunity to the travel industry from abroad to get a sample of what it has to offer in terms of tourist attractions and future tourism plans to the foreign visitor.
• Marketing: A long-range marketing programme coordinates all the promotional functions of PATA for a maximum impact in the consumer market and also among sales agents. The marketing programme includes: advertising, publicity and promotion. An extensive advertising programme schedule is carried in leading national magazines of North America with a view to increase interest in the Pacific region as a major travel area. The association prepares and distributes a wide selection of selling aids and sales promotion materials to travel agents and tour operators throughout the world.
• Research and Development: The Association’s research programme is designed to provide it with the marketing information needed to formulate its own marketing programme as well as to provide its members with information which will assist them in designing their own programmes. The Association organises research seminars, research presentations and technical assistance programmes for its members.

For Detail: https://www.pata.org/

International Air Transport Association(IATA)

In the business of travel, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the world organization of scheduled airlines played a central role since its inception in the year 1945. A world association of about 200 Active Members and 35 Associate Members, the International Air Transport Association was a result of the rapid expansion in the network of international airlines in the years following the Second World War. A need for the worldwide regulation of air traffic including co-coordinating international air fares and rates was felt and consequently an international conference was called by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States of America at Chicago from November 1 to December 7, 1944.

The convention constituted two permanent bodies, namely, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). However, before reaching the position that now it occupies in the field of aviation, IATA passed through several stages, in parallel with a spectacular development of commercial aviation. Its modest beginning date back to 1919 when the International Air Traffic Association was founded in Hague by half a dozen European airlines that had just been created right from the beginning; they recognized the need to cooperate in setting up a network for rationalizing airlines business.

The International Air Traffic Association expanded steadily with the development of air services in the world. Among other things, it drew up the general formula for tickets and transport documents adopted in 1927. The innovations and improvements introduced by the association progressively placed unique tools at the disposal of the industry. In November 1944, as the World War was coming to an end, 54 states met in Chicago to lay the first foundation of the new system that would soon be needed by civil aviation. The Conference led to the creation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the international body setup by government to establish universal norms for the technical regulation of civil aviation. Indirectly, this conference also was responsible for the foundation of the International Air Transport Association – a non-governmental body officially set up in Havana in April 1945 – which in practice, carried on the task assumed by the former IATA.

Aims

• To promote safe, regular and economical air transport for the benefit of the people of the world, to foster air commerce and to study the problems connected therewith;
• To provide means for collaboration among the air transport enterprises engaged directly or indirectly in international air transport service.
• To cooperate with the International Civil Aviation Organisation and other international organisations.

 IATA Organisation

The IATA is a voluntary, non-political and democratic organisa­tion. Membership is automatically open to any operating company which has been licensed to provide scheduled air service by a government eligible for membership in ICAO. Airlines engaged directly in international oper­ations are active members, while domestic airlines are associate members.

The IATA administration is headed by a Director General and five Assistant Directors General. The Association has two main offices, one in Montreal and the other in Geneva. Regional Technical Directors are based in Bangkok, Geneva, London, Nairobi, and Rio de Janeiro and Regional Directors (Special Assignments) in Singapore and Buenos Aires. IATA Traffic Service Offices are located in New York and Singapore. IATA’ budget is financed from the dues paid by its members, largely in proportion to the part of the total international air traffic carried by each airline. Some IATA activities are self-supporting through charges for services rendered.

 A wide range of services provided by IATA includes the following:

• The global planning of international timetables,
• The standardization of the inter-company communications and reservation system,
• The international coordination of telecommunication networks and computer systems,
• The single formula for tickets and airway bills,
• The training of travel and freight agents,
• The regulation of legal question of general concern, to develop security measures, and
• The examination and solving of the problems raised by tourism, the flow of passengers and goods at the airports, and to establish procedures and technical norms.

 Operations

IATA member airlines are registered in some 126 nations. Their routes cross almost every country of the world at one time or another. It is the IATA’s operational task to ensure that the aircraft utilised to carry the world passengers and goods are able to proceed with maximum safety and efficiency, under clearly defined and universally understood regulations. It is IATA’s commercial objective to ensure that people, cargo and mail can move anywhere in the global network as easily as though they were on a single airline within a single country. Plainly these two categories of IATA activities are closely related in their connection with the cost of airline operation, the carrier’s charges to the public, and the desire to keep both of these as low as possible and in keeping with safety norms.

 Trade Association Activities

IATA Finances: The IATA Financial Committee deals with all aspects of accounting and settlements between airlines in respect of the business they do with one another or on one another’s behalf. It is also concerned with many of the airlines’ common problems in regard to currency and exchange, taxation, charges, insurance and statistics.

An example of IATA’s financial work is the IATA Clearing House, through which tile airlines settle monthly accounts for interline revenue transactions. It enables them to collect and pay their worldwide debts simultaneously by single cash settlement in either dollar or convertible sterling, regardless of the number of currencies involved.

The Legal Committee: The Legal Committee of IATA, composed of experts drawn from more than 20 airlines, is concerned with all legal matters having a on international air transport. One of its main activities is formulation of the airlines’ views in the development of international conventions affecting such matters as the liability of air carriers to their customers and to other parties, the commission of offence on board aircraft, the carriage of nuclear materials and the carriage of airmail.

Technical Committee: Cooperation of the airlines in operational and technical matters is challenged through the IATA Technical Committee, its annual 1technical conference and its various global and regional working groups. IATA technical activity is founded upon full exchange of information and experience among all the airlines.

IATA has played, and continues to play, an important role in the drafting of the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices which form the accepted international pattern for the technical regulation of civil aviation, and cooperates closely with ICAO to encourage governments to implement them fully and keep them up-to-date. IATA works in much the same way with other organisations such as the International Telecommunications Union, the World Meteorological Organisation and the International Organisation for Standardisation.

 Traffic Conferences and Activities: To unite its member airlines into a single commercial network, IATA has produced a series interline agreements between them (to which many non-IATA and domestic airlines and sea carriers are parties as well) covering all phases of passenger, baggage and cargo handling, reservation

The Traffic Conference process arises from the peculiar nature of air transport. Every inch of the world’s surface is accessible by air, and the airlines fly between most of their major cities over a maze of interrelated routes. Yet each government reserves complete control over its own shareof the airspace and the right to determine what its air, services may charge the public. International fares and rates and conditions which underline them must therefore be fixed by international agreements in which virtually every country has some direct or indirect concern.

 Tariff Coordination Activities; the negotiation of international fares and rates for submission to various governments arises from the special nature of air transport. Airlines operate between most major cities, criss-crossing routes. For an airline any country is accessible by air. Today governments in most countries of the world reserve control over their own airspace as also over what air carriers may charge the public for using their services. The subject of international fares and rates and the conditions which underline them are the subjects in which almost every country has some direct or indirect concern.

 Facilitation: Another service of traffic is the facilitation section. In an industry based on speed, economy and service, red—tape is a serious matter. Customs, immigration and health regulations hamper and delay the efficient transportation of passengers and cargo. Delays can add millions of dollars to the cost of operation. With international airlines operating in almost 200 countries, and their operations subject to the regulation requirement of numerous public authorities in every country, cooperation becomes very vital. Cooperation starts with the airlines themselves. A programme to cut red-tape is worked out and constantly reviewed by the IATA Facilitation Advisory Committee. For implementation, it passes into the hands of more than 10 airlines personnel at the headquarters of their respective

 IATA Allied Service:IATA performs many other widely varied functions. It collects and issues industry statistics. It is a documentation centre and publishes on behalf of its members, issuing internal manuals, tabulations of airlines distances, technical surveys, reports and other important industry information.

For Detail: https://www.iata.org/

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is the specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) for civil aviation, was created by the Convention on International Civil Aviation signed in Chicago on 7 December 1944. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth. Its headquarters are located in the Quartier International of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The ICAO Council adopts standards and recommended practices concerning air navigation, its infrastructure, flight inspection, prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of border-crossing procedures for international civil aviation. ICAO defines the protocols for air accident investigation followed by transport safety authorities in countries signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention).

The Air Navigation Commission (ANC) is the technical body within ICAO. The Commission is composed of 19 Commissioners, nominated by the ICAO’s contracting states, and appointed by the ICAO Council.[2] Commissioners serve as independent experts, who although nominated by their states, do not serve as state or political representatives.

The development of Aviation Standards and Recommended Practices is done under the direction of the ANC through the formal process of ICAO Panels. Once approved by the Commission, standards are sent to the Council, the political body of ICAO, for consultation and coordination with the Member States before final adoption.

The forerunner to ICAO was the International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN). It held its first convention in 1903 in Berlin, Germany but no agreements were reached among the eight countries that attended. At the second convention in 1906, also held in Berlin, 27 countries attended. The third convention, held in London in 1912allocated the first radio call signs for use by aircraft. ICAN continued to operate until 1945.Fifty-two countries signed the Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, in Chicago, Illinois, on 7 December 1944. Under its terms, a Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization (PICAO) was to be established, to be replaced in turn by a permanent organization when 26 countries ratified the convention. Accordingly, PICAO began operating on 6 June 1945, replacing ICAN. The 26th country ratified the Convention on 5 March 1947 and, consequently PICAO was disestablished on 4 April 1947 and replaced by ICAO, which began operations the same day. In October 1947, ICAO became an agency of the United Nations linked to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Membership

As of November 2011, there are 191 International Civil Aviation Organization members, consisting of 190 of the 193 UN members (all but Dominica, Liechtenstein, and Tuvalu), plus the Cook Islands.

 Governing Council

The Governing Council is elected every 3 years and consists of 36 members divided into 3 categories. The present Council was elected on October 1, 2013 at the 38th Assembly of ICAO at Montreal. The Structure of present Council is as follows:

 Part I – (States of chief importance in air transport) – Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States. All of them have been re-elected.

 Part II – (States which make the largest contribution to the provision of facilities for international civil air navigation) – Argentina, Egypt, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain and Venezuela. Except Norway, Portugal and Venezuela, all others have been re-elected.

 iii. Part III– (States ensuring geographic representation)- Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Dominican Republic, Kenya, Libya, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Poland, Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates and United Republic of Tanzania. Bolivia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Kenya, Libya, Nicaragua, Poland and United Republic of Tanzania have been elected for the first time.

 Standards

ICAO also standardizes certain functions for use in the airline industry, such as the Aeronautical Message Handling System (AMHS), making it a standards organization. Each country should have an accessible Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP), based on standards defined by ICAO, containing information essential to air navigation. Countries are required to update their AIP manuals every 28 days and so provide definitive regulations, procedures and information for each country about airspace and aerodromes. ICAO’s standards also dictate that temporary hazards to aircraft are regularly published using NOTAMs.

ICAO defines an International Standard Atmosphere (also known as ICAO Standard Atmosphere), a model of the standard variation of pressure, temperature, density, and viscosity with altitude in the Earth’s atmosphere. This is useful in calibrating instruments and designing aircraft.

ICAO standardizes machine-readable passports worldwide. Such passports have an area where some of the information otherwise written in textual form is written as strings of alphanumeric characters, printed in a manner suitable for optical character recognition.

This enables border controllers and other law enforcement agents to process such passports quickly, without having to input the information manually into a computer. ICAO publishes Doc 9303 Machine Readable Travel Documents, the technical standard for machine-readable passports. A more recent standard is for biometric passports. These contain biometrics to authenticate the identity of travellers. The passport’s critical information is stored on a tiny RFID computer chip, much like information stored on smartcards. Like some smartcards, the passport book design calls for an embedded contactless chip that is able to hold digital signature data to ensure the integrity of the passport and the biometric data.

ICAO is active in infrastructure management, including Communication, Navigation, Surveillance / Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) systems, which employ digital technologies (like satellite systems with various levels of automation) in order to maintain a seamless global air traffic management system

 Aims and Objectives of ICAO

Its aims and objectives are to develop the principles and techniques of international air travel navigation and to foster the planning development of international air transport.

It also sets international standards and regulations necessary for safe, regular, efficient and economical air transport, and serves as the medium for co-operation in all fields of civil aviation among its 187 Contracting States.

Another of ICAO’s functions is to facilitate the adoption of international air law instruments and to promote their general acceptance. ICAO also conducts workshops in various regions to provide States with information and advice on its activities and to facilitate exchange of information and views. In addition, ICAO also provides assistance to States to improve their aviation security facilities and procedures.

In recent years, ICAO has undertaken extensive work in areas like reporting aircraft accident and incident data, and automation of air traffic services. Among ICAO’s more significant achievements has been the development of a satellite-based concept to meet the future communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management needs of civil aviation.

The ICAO is made up of an Assembly, a Council of limited membership with various subordinate bodies and a Secretariat. The Assembly, the sovereign body of ICAO comprising representatives from all Contracting States, meets at least once in three years to discuss civil aviation issues in the technical, economic, legal and technical co-operation fields. The Council, which is the governing body and comprises 33 Contracting States, gives continuing direction to the work of ICAO. One of its roles is to adopt International Standards and Recommended Practices and to incorporate these as Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The Council is supported by the Air Navigation Commission (technical matters), the Air Transport Committee (economic matters), and the Committee on Joint Support of Air Navigation Services and the Finance Committee. The Secretariat, headed by a Secretary General, is divided into five main divisions – the Air Navigation Bureau, the Air Transport Bureau, the Technical Co-operation Bureau, the Legal Bureau and the Bureau of Administration and Services.

 Aim of ICAO

ICAO works in close co-operation with other members of the UN family such as the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Non-governmental organisations such as the Airports Council International (ACI), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) also participate in ICAO’s work. The main aim of ICAO include

• Ensure the safe and orderly growth of international civil aviation throughout the world
• Promote safety of flight in international air navigation. Some other aims include Standardization – the establishment of International Standards, Recommended Practices and Procedures covering licensing of personnel, rules of the air, aircraft operations, airworthiness, aeronautical telecommunications, air traffic services, accident investigation, aircraft noise and emission levels, security and safe transport of dangerous goods. After a standard is formally adopted, each of the ICAO ‘contracting states’ implements it within their territories.
• CNS/ATM – the development of a satellite-based system concept to meet future communications, navigation surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) needs of civil aviation.
• Regional planning – for the purposes of the ICAO, the globe is divided into 9 geographical regions which are treated individually for ‘planning the provision of air navigation facilities and services required on the ground’. ICAO regional meetings are held periodically.
• Facilitation – the reduction of procedural formalities which may add extra time to a passenger’s journey and the provision of adequate air terminal buildings.
• Economics – air services to be established on the basis of equality and opportunity and operated soundly and economically.
• Technical co-operation for development – the promotion of civil aviation in developing countries which includes the provision of assistance to states in order to improve their aviation security facilities and procedures. This has involved the creation or assistance of many large civil aviation training centres.
• Law – development of a code of international air law governing certain issues.

For Detail: https://www.icao.int/

Tourism Related Organizations of Nepal