ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT - OECD

OECD is an inter-governmental organization focusing on economic matters which brings together the 30 most developed countries in the world. Mission

Membership
Membership comprises 30 states. OECD is sometimes referred to as the “Rich Man’s Club”. The original 20 members were the countries of Western Europe and North America. The next round of membership brought in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Finland. More recently, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Korea have joined.

Background
In 1947, the forerunner of the OECD was the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), which was formed to administer American and Canadian aid under the Marshall Plan for reconstruction of Europe after World War II.
In 1961, OECD took over from the OEEC.

 Funding
Members’ contributions.

Fields of activity
The main fields of activities are:

• Economic and long-term analysis
• Education, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
• Energy
• Finance, Investment, Taxation and Competition etc.

Staff
The 2 000 staff of the OECD Secretariat in Paris work directly or indirectly to support the activities of committees. Some 700 economists, scientists, lawyers and other professional staff, mainly based in a dozen substantive directorates, provide research and analysis.

The Secretariat, which is divided into directorates, is directed by a Secretary-General, assisted by four deputy Secretaries-General. The Secretary-General also chairs the Council, providing the crucial link between national delegations and the Secretariat.

• The OECD works in two official languages: English and French

 Headquarters
Paris, France

OECD Tourism Committee
The Tourism Committee is under the Enterprise, Industry & Science department Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry

With OECD countries contributing some 70% of world tourism trade, the OECD Tourism Committee is in a unique position to serve as an international forum for co-ordinating policies and actions.  The OECD is the only global forum for discussion of tourism policies among industrialised countries.

 Structure
Once a year, the OECD brings together senior policy makers in the tourism area to discuss major industry developments, takes action when required, assembles material on policies and contributes to the work of other parts of the OECD. 

The OECD Tourism Committee also co- operates with the World Tourism Organisation, the European Union and the International Labour Organisation.  It engages in dialogue with non-member countries, and provides a forum for discussion with industry, academia and other groups through consultation and seminars. The Statistical Working Party meets once a year.

 Relationship with IH&RA
IH&RA is only involved with the Tourism Committee at OECD.
Unfortunately, the budget and activities of the Tourism Committee have been halved in recent years, reducing the number of meetings involving the private sector to one per year. Work in recent years has concentrated on the Tourism Satellite Account being evolved by the Organization, and problems of coordination with WTO’ s work on the same topic.

Recent Publications
The Tourism Satellite Account and the Employment Module are the two new economic instruments designed by the OECD’s Tourism Committee to provide insights into the socio-economic impact, structure and development of activities related to tourism.

Key contacts
Mr. Angel Gurria,
Secretary General

Mr. Alain Dupeyras,
Head of the Tourism Programme
Alain.dupeyras@oecd.org

Mr. Sergio Arzeni
Director, Centre for Enterpreneurship, SMEs &Local Development
sergio.arzeni@oecd.org

Address
2, rue André Pascal
F-75016 Paris, France

Tel: +33 1 45 24 82 00
Fax: +33 1 45 24 78 52
Web site: www.oecd.org / www.oecd.org/cfe/tourism