Prof. Geoffrey Lipman, Assistant Secretary-General, World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)

Geoffrey Lipman is Assistant Secretary General and Spokesperson of UNWTO, the World Tourism Organization and he is Chair of the Advisory Board of the Christel DeHaan Tourism & Travel Research Institute.

Geoffrey Lipman was the first President of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the global business leaders’ forum. Between 1990 and 1999 he shaped its agenda during its growth from 10-100 members and the positioning of Travel & Tourism as the world’s largest industry as well as its Millennium Vision for open markets, elimination of barriers and sustainable development. He was Chair of Green Globe 21 the responsible/sustainable tourism group from 2000-2008. He spent 20 years with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), where he was Executive Director and Head of Government Affairs, later as Executive Director of IFAPA, a foundation representing passengers and as partner in Global Aviation Associates, a strategic airline consultancy specialising in government relations and competition matters.

He has written and lectured around the world on tourism strategy, sustainability and airline liberalization, co-authored books on opening up European Aviation and established a Think Tank on Free Trade in the Air. He was a member of 2 European Union High Level Commissions - on Airline Liberalization and on Tourism Employment as well as a member of the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Development, the President of Zambia’s Business Advisory Council and the Ethiopia Think Tank. He has served as Tourism Envoy for the Administrator of the UNDP and Tourism Advisor to the Commonwealth Business Council, the World Economic Forum and Microsoft. Geoffrey Lipman is Adjunct Professor at Victoria University and Griffith University in Australia and Senior Tourism Research Fellow at George Washington University in the US. He is a Fellow of the UK Tourism Society.