| This year the IH&RA is working hard to implement the President's plan in two major areas- strengthening the organization and focusing on our main activities.
In recent months we have taken steps to improve our structure. We have welcomed new members from the Balkans as well as others who rejoined and we are prospecting the ASEAN countries, Latin America and Africa.
The IH&RA is the only global business organization representing the hospitality industry worldwide and officially recognized by the United Nations.
The President, Board Members and Executives of IH&RA are engaged in the following core activities :
Advocacy and Lobbying / Representation at the international organizations
Information dissemination / Communication- internal and external
Networking for Members
The President represented IH&RA at the UNWTO Business Council in Berlin, and had meetings with UNEP, UFTAA, OECD, IOE, ISO, IOM, UNWTO, WTOBC accompanied by the Director-General.
In these meetings we stressed the hospitality industry’s positions on all the subjects concerning hotels and restaurants, and in the meeting with Mr. Francesco Frangialli, Secretary-General of United Nations World Tourism Organization UNWTO, President Dr. Aïdi stated that the IH&RA was against any international hotel classification scheme but will support regional or state plans and is ready to work with the UNWTO on these matters.
In the meeting with Mr. Alan Bryden, Secretary-General of the International Organization for Standardization - ISO - the President stated that standards in the hospitality industry were different in regions and countries according their culture and habits, therefore there is no way to standardize this industry. IH&RA is against any international standardization but will assist regional and state programmes.
Avi Rosental participated in the launching of the APELL (Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at the Local Level) workshops run by the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP in South East Asia as part of the EU funded Asia Pro Eco Tsunami Relief programme. IH&RA is a major partner in this project and we involved the Hotel Associations of India and Thailand.
HOTREC and IH&RA should continue to work in cooperation for the benefit of their members : associations, chains, hotels and restaurants. The European countries should be members of the IH&RA to strengthen the mutual and respective positions of both IH&RA and HOTREC.
Click here to access HOTREC press release on the Seminar & General Assembly.
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