Montevideo to Host Office for Tourism Law Observatory for Latin America and Caribbean

The first thematic office of UN Tourism will be based in the region of the Americas and will focus on legal issues. With the signing of the Collaboration Agreement between the Ministry of Tourism of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay and UN Tourism for the opening of the first thematic office of the Organization, the head office of the Tourism Law Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean has been inaugurated at the United Nations House in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The ceremony was attended by His Excellency the President of Uruguay Luis Lacalle Pou, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the country Pablo Ruiz, the Minister of Tourism Eduardo Sanguinetti, Senator and former Minister of Tourism Tabaré Viera, and the Director General of the Ministry of Tourism Ignacio Curbelo. In attendance on the part of UN Tourism were Gustavo Santos, Regional Director for the Americas and Alicia Gómez, Legal Counsel of the Organization, along with Julio Facal, member of the UN Tourism World Committee on Tourism Ethics. Also participating were the Minister of Tourism of Brazil, Celso Sabino, the Lead Tourism Specialist of the Inter-American Development Bank, Juliana Bettini, academic collaborators of the Observatory and prestigious jurists from Spain, Chile, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico and other authorities of the Americas.

The Observatory is a project jointly developed by UN Tourism and the Inter-American Development Bank. It will deploy a pioneering digital tool, which includes a database, “TurismoLex”, that compiles the tourism legislation of the LAC area, as well as a virtual classroom, a community of practices and regulatory quality indicators. The Observatory will represent an interactive forum where the public, private and academic sectors will be able to exchange best practices and discuss legislative trends in tourism in the region.

The Observatory represents a valuable resource that will help governments, policymakers and public and private entities in the sector to improve and implement more harmonized, coherent and effective legal frameworks for tourism. In addition, the Observatory establishes a framework for collaboration with prestigious higher education institutions in the area to carry out studies, technical reports and create working groups that deal with Tourism Law, responding to the needs that States and operators in the sector may present.

With this background, the Observatory, which will begin its operations at the beginning of 2025, will have as its main objectives the improvement in the quality of tourism regulations. It will also serve as a technical forum that promotes appropriate regulation for the area, issuing reports and studies through which the Administrations, mainly, can develop legislation appropriate to the interests of the sector, thus facilitating regional regulatory cooperation, improving cross-border relations and the harmonious development of tourism legislation.

Uruguay’s proposal to host the head office of the Tourism Law Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean obtained the support of all Members of the Americas region at the last meeting of the Regional Commission held last April, in Varadero, Cuba. It was then approved within the framework of the 121st session of the Executive Council held in Barcelona on 11 June of this year and will subsequently be submitted for ratification at the 26th session of the UN Tourism General Assembly.

Under Uruguay’s leadership, the Tourism Law Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the legal landscape of the tourism sector, addressing regulatory challenges and identifying opportunities for growth and innovation.