The World Travel Organisation, UNWTO, a United Nations specialised agency for tourism, has condemned the recent travel ban put in place by the United States government.

A statement by UNWTO Media Officer, Gomez Sobrino, which was made available to PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday, said that the travel ban is contrary to the principles of freedom of travel and travel facilitation by the international tourism community.

“The UNWTO expresses its deep concern and strong condemnation over the
recently announced travel ban by the United States of America (USA) to nationals of seven countries (Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen),” said Mr. Sobrino.

“The travel ban, based on nationality, is contrary to the principles of freedom of travel and travel facilitation promoted by the international tourism community and will hinder the immense benefits
of the tourism sector brings in terms of economic growth and job creation to many countries, including the USA.”

According to the statement, Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General, said, “Global challenges demand global solutions and the security challenges that we face today should not prompt us to build new walls; on the contrary, isolationism and blind discriminatory actions will not lead to increased security but rather to growing tensions and threats.”

The United States President, Donald Trump, had on Friday signed an executive order prohibiting entry by people from seven majority-Muslim nations for 90 days. Citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya would be banned from entering the U.S. for the period.

But Mr. Rifai in his reaction added that the hostile manner the travel ban was imposed will affect the image of the United states, noting that travel demand to the country will decline.

“Besides the direct impact, the image of a country which imposes travel bans in such a hostile way will surely be affected among visitors from all over the world and risk dumping travel demand to the
USA.”

Source: Premium Times