Academic literature on the topic 'International Union of Official Travel Organisations'

Incognito through a country of friends: Illegal climbers from the GDR in the Soviet UnionAlthough the GDR did not have its own high mountains, it did have an informal community of climbers, of about 1,000 enthusiasts, who despite numerous obstacles managed to go on expeditions to high mountains of the Eastern Bloc. They could not count on any support of the state, because mountaineering is not a kind of sport in which international success can be achieved all the time and because the GDR, unlike e.g. the Soviet Union, could not expect any military benefits from it. The climbers found it especially hard to obtain permission to travel, to go to the mountains on their own, to acquire appropriate equipment and train in preparation for the difficulties awaiting them in high mountains. Only thanks to their extraordinary enthusiasm, organisational creativity and technical skills were they able to overcome obstacles like obtaining invitations from the Soviet Union, casual jobs and making their own equipment in order to be able to reach high mountains. From the late 1970s the climbing community began to experience a revival thanks to a new “hippie generation”. Young people reached the USSR thanks to the so-called “transit visas”, which is why they were described as “transit travellers”. Often they would then travel for weeks or even months “unrecognised through their beloved country”. During these “incognito travels” they had to avoid police patrols and when they were stopped, they had to have good excuses. Despite their illegality, the transit travellers were able to travel across the entire USSR. Their extraordinarily modest way of travelling, often hitch-hiking or walking, meant that they had closer contact with people living in the Soviet Union than was provided for in the German–Soviet friendship, used for propaganda purposes, and could formulate their own opinion on the reality of the “Big Brother”.Through their experiences the climbers managed to distance themselves from the official socialist discourse in the GDR. With their views crossing state borders the climbers could be treated as the vanguard of mass escapes through Eastern European third countries, like e.g. Hungary, which began the collapse of the GDR in 1989.

International and European intergovernmental organisations and the adult education research community all emphasise the importance of well-qualified personal working in the field of adult education. However, as previous research has shown, the diversity of the field is a ‘challenge’ to the greater professionalisation of adult education. Therefore, this paper investigates how the European Union conceptualises adult education professionalisation in the 21st century and how this is reflected in the Slovene adult education policy. For this purpose, the core official European Union and Slovene policy documents on the professionalisation of adult educators were analysed using documentary analysis. The theoretical framework of the Europeanisation of education was used, along with international and comparative perspectives in studies of adult education. Our findings indicate that in the Slovene context, the emphasis is on the recognition of different professional roles and competences that adult educators need to work successfully in different contexts rather than on the unification of their competences, which can be found in the European context.

As the issues of cultural identity (a hidden code that shapes cultural identity of states or supranational organisations) in the context of international actors’ attitudes and world politics as such are topical, it is necessary to analyze specific indicators of such codes and behavior patterns. The tensions between the real attitudes manifested in foreign policy and the values declared in official documents prevent the formation of a single cultural identity, but shed light on real policy drivers. The article deals with the features of cultural identity as a phenomenon in international relations in the particular case of the European Union’s value orientations, indicated in official documents, and the EU foreign policy when mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As now the EU single cultural space faces internal crisis, it is legitimate to raise the issue of whether single European culture or common European values exist. A particular axiological analysis of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy in the Middle East, of both actions and declarations in the abovementioned peace talks shall contribute to the research. In this context, a passive role of the European Union in such a complex conflict as the Palestinian-Israeli one demonstrates the peculiarities of internal processes in the EU. This allows us to conclude whether the cultural identity of the European Union is real, or whether the EU is a legal fiction, an artificial union of different national identities.

After Iosif Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet Union emerged from its isolation and began to show an interest in traditionally marginalized foreign societies. As the example of the Chilean-Soviet rapprochement under Eduardo Frei's administration (1964–1970) shows, Soviet leaders viewed state-to-state relations with “progressive” Latin American regimes as an appropriate means of undermining U.S. influence in the region without risking an armed confrontation with “imperialism.” The reformist project of the Chilean Christian Democratic government, which included a diplomatic opening to the Soviet bloc, provided a testing ground for the suitability of Moscow's new global approach. The surge of cultural and political exchanges indicate that the Soviet authorities were keenly interested in the Chilean experience. In addition, the considerable growth of travel and official missions beyond the Iron Curtain also demonstrates that Santiago wished to benefit by diversifying its international partners.

THE LAST MONTHS OF THE GERMAN OCCUPATION IN LITHUANIA: ESCAPE OF THE CIVILIAN POPULATION TO THE REICH AND POLITICAL EXPECTATIONS IN 1944 The article analyses the situation in Lithuania in the last months of the German occupation, focusing on what preparations were made for the evacuation of the population in the spring and summer of 1944 and how it proceeded, and the impact of the actions and propaganda of the German authorities and the deliberations of Lithuanian underground organisations regarding the political and military situation and the end of the war on the numbers of war refugees (around 80,000 people left in July–October, with the exception of the Klaipėda region, which was deserted after the Germans retreated) and citizens’ political expectations. The research is based on historiography, official and underground publications, diaries and memoirs. During the war, there was no political centre in Lithuania that processed reliable political information and provided it to the public. Although, starting from 1943, there were institutions and organisations to take care of war refugees flooding in from the USSR, when the Red Army crossed the Lithuanian border in early July 1944, local government was no longer coordinating population movements. The German occupying authorities and the Lithuanian government, consisting of general advisers, had prepared plans for the evacuation of the population and property; however, until the very last minute, no one risked taking the initiative to implement them. People in Lithuania were still quite optimistic in the summer and autumn of 1944. Quite a few believed that the front would stabilise at the German border, and that the Soviet Union ‘will run out of steam’ and suspend hostilities. Optimism was encouraged by official German propaganda, and the fact that in August–October, military action ‘stuck’ in Lithuania for two and a half months, as the Red Army stopped in order to replenish its supplies. Moreover, influential Lithuanian underground organisations did not believe that the country was on the brink of a long Soviet occupation, and did not discuss the situation of the civilian population. Lithuanian underground organisations, from Social Democrats to Nationalists, which were unequivocally optimistic about the international situation, believing the promises of US and British politicians to restore prewar borders, used the press and proclamations to shape expectations in society that the Soviet occupation would be temporary. Politicians leaving Lithuania expected to return soon, thus leaving the people with the hope of rapid political change.

Abstract Globalisation may concern many different issues, among others, the increase in migration that creates opportunities for all. There should be no doubt that globalisation can bring both positive and negative effects to workers. It can be seen as new opportunities for people, because they can travel, work, learn and live in different countries. Simultaneously however it can be perceived as synonymous to job losses, social injustice, or low environmental, health, and privacy standards. As a result of globalisation, the world is becoming more and more complex and the economic importance of state borders is reduced. It should therefore not raise doubts, that global problems require the capacity to agree on coordinated global responses and mechanisms on the basis of international cooperation. Among the basic international organisations which provide solutions for workers who have decided to look for a job in another country, one can generally mention the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Council of Europe, and the European Union (EU). There is quite a large number of legal acts created in the framework of those organisations, and so we should ask a question if in such a situation we should also try to understand some legal concepts; in our case concepts connected with taking up employment, in a similar way. Even if the answer is positive, another question comes to mind – is it possible to have such definitions in a global world? It is thus not enough to provide legal regulations concerning worker’s rights and obligations if we do not know who exactly should be treated like a worker. The following article will try to answer those questions and simultaneously try to show that globalisation may affect the way certain terms should be understood.

The article explores Ukraine’s experience in conducting phytosanitary expertise based on international standards. It was stated that Ukraine should develop a series of draft in national legislation in the field of quarantine and plant protection, which would be adapted to the legislation of the European Union and at the same time meet the requirements of the International Plant Protection Convention. In this area, Ukraine has already partially implemented some structural reforms in the phytosanitary sector, but these processes require continued state support and encouragement, international coordination that will facilitate the development of agriculture in general. Such coordination can be undertaken primarily in the framework of international universal organisations within the UN system, in particular within FAO. It has been emphasised that Law of Ukraine No. 2501-VIII “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Regulation of Some Phytosanitary Procedures” came into force on February 2, 2019. Among the innovations are the granting of the right to carry out expert examination to private laboratories, new terms in the field of plant quarantine and the creation of the Register of Phytosanitary Certificates issued. It has been concluded that Ukraine is currently actively applying international standards, participating in their development and registering official translations of international standards for phytosanitary measures. Developing national and applying international standards, as a key factor in creating a quality system in the field of plant quarantine, not only ensure full fulfilment by Ukraine of its obligations under the IPPC and SPS, agreeing on the phytosanitary safety of exported quarantine cargoes, but also increase the competitiveness of the domestic vegetal products in the world market. This creates a positive image of Ukraine as a reliable trading partner that does not violate the requirements of other countries and guarantees the conformity of product quality, phytosanitary procedures to internationally recognised standards. Therefore, for qualified phytosanitary examinations, the mechanism of guaranteeing compliance with national and international standards, amending legislation, introducing effective penalties for violation of the rules and procedure for conducting phytosanitary examinations should be a promising area

Aim. The aim of the research is: theoretical investigation of the problem of patriotism and its urgency, the empirical research for defining the level of perception of the concept “patriotism” by teenagers in Latvia. Methodology of the research. The theoretical basis of the research includes theoretical analysis of various conceptual approaches to understanding of the phenomenon of patriotism in the philosophical aspect, as well as official documents of the European Union and the Republic of Latvia: documents of the Republic of Latvia (the preamble to the main law of the Latvian Republic – the Constitution; National Development Plan of Latvia for 2014-2020; Guidelines for the Development of Education for 2014-2020; Guidelines on national identity, civil society and integration policy 2012-2018); documents of international organisations (United Nations International Children’s Fund; European Commission; the EU Strategy for Youth – Investing and Empowering; Universal Declaration of Human Rights). The Empirical methods of the research: methods of data acquisition: a questionnaire (anonymous); methods of data processing and analysis: quantitative data processing with methods of mathematical analysis of statistical data and forecasting analytical methods in data processing software Microsoft Office Excel 2010 and SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) 18.0 version; qualitative data processing (analysis of the content, coding and processing of the acquired data); interpretation of quantitative and qualitative. Results. The theoretical analysis makes it possible to conclude that the main idea of the concept patriotism consists in considering it as one of the highest values of the individual and is the basis of life orientations, defining the strategy of the individual’s development, harmonisation of the society and the state. The main approaches for investigation of the concept of patriotism are: sensitively emotional, active and publically national.

AbstractTemporally and spatially increasing information on the distribution of Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) breeding sites is used as an index of various national activities in eastern Prydz Bay, East Antarctica. Recorded instances of such sites are used to indicate both exploration and enhanced local knowledge. While Norwegians discovered the area (1935), and revisited it (1937), reports of penguins were minimal. The 1938 Ellsworth expedition added few details and the potential of Operation Highjump (1947) photographs to delimit breeding sites was never realised. Observations by Australian expeditioners from the mid-1950s onwards, supplemented to some extent by those from the Soviet Union, increased information substantially. When Davis station was established (January 1957), at least five breeding sites were known around eastern Prydz Bay. By 1973 this had increased to 23 or 24 sites, mostly north of the Sørsdal Glacier, which had apparently acted as a barrier to land-based exploration. Data available to 1980 showed 20 sites in the Vestfold Hills, added two in the Rauer Group, and omitted some recorded earlier. Ground surveys of the Vestfold Hills (November 1973) increased known sites slightly, discounted erroneous records, and massively increased numbers of individual colonies. In 1981 an air survey recognised 24 sites in the Vestfold Hills and increased those known to 47. In approximately the same period, official Soviet records showed perhaps four sites in the Vestfold Hills and another in the Rauer Group. Early reports provided poor estimates of breeding population sizes — totals of some 130,000 (or 174,200) pairs in the Vestfold Hills in 1973 are compared with perhaps 196,600 in 1981, with another 129,000 pairs to the south. By 1983 locations of breeding sites in the Vestfold Hills were well established, and this was achieved in southern Prydz Bay following publication of 1981 survey results.Progression of information regarding breeding sites in eastern Prydz Bay was slow. Initial Australian activities were slight following acceptance of its Antarctic Territory (1933). However, a Soviet Antarctic whaling fleet, uncertainty regarding American and Soviet intentions, and the imminent International Geophysical Year increased Australian interest. A station was established, local search areas expanded, and enhanced details regarding penguin breeding sites and colonies followed. Data reviews and surveys followed increasing international interest in southern ecosystems. Improved knowledge regarding the species' local populations reflected changing political agendas. Indeed, ‘knowledge’ itself gave early support to territorial claims. Participation in international surveys became an acceptable scientific endeavour, anticipated under Treaty agreements and promoted by associated organisations. In such fora, surveys and monitoring are expected, although not necessarily furthering the strength of existing claims.

Abstract: “The strong Baltic nationalistic centre” and Soviet foreign propaganda: from war to peace and toward the Cold War This special issue focuses on censorship, but it is difficult to treat censorship without also considering propaganda. This article discusses both censorship and foreign propaganda as complementary tools in the Soviet Union’s arsenal for manipulating public opinion in foreign countries. The purpose of such action was to shape the behaviour of those states to further Soviet interests. The article focuses on the use of propaganda and censorship in Soviet efforts to settle the “Baltic question”– the question of the future of the Baltic countries – in the 1940s. This was the time when the wartime alliance was crumbling and giving way to a cold-war confrontation. The article is based on Russian archival sources. The Molotov collection (F. 82), materials of the department of propaganda and agitation of the Central Committee (CC) of the CPSU (F. 17, opis 125), and of the CC department of international information (F. 17, opis 128) are stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-political History (RGASPI). The collection of the Soviet Information Bureau (F. R8581) is located at the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF). The article also draws on previous research on Soviet propaganda, such as Vladimir Pechatnov’s and Wolfram Eggeling’s studies on the work of the Soviet Information Bureau (SIB) and on discussions in the Soviet propaganda apparatus in the early postwar years. However, this article digs somewhat deeper and alongside general developments, also looks at a particular case – the Baltic problem in the Soviet contest with the West for winning hearts and minds. It analyses Soviet policies without attempting to uncover and reconstruct all the twists and turns of the decision-making processes in Moscow. The archival material is insufficient for the latter task. Nevertheless, a look into the making of Soviet propaganda, the techniques and practices utilised to bring Soviet influence to bear on an important foreign-policy issue (the Baltic problem), is interesting for scholars working not only on propaganda and censorship but also on the history of the Soviet Union and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltic question was related, among other things, to the problem of repatriating people from the territories of the Soviet Union who had been displaced during the Second World War and were located in Western Europe at the war’s end. Moscow claimed that all these displaced persons (DPs) were Soviet citizens. This article helps correct the view, expressed for example by the Finnish scholar Simo Mikkonen, that the Soviet propaganda campaign to attract the remaining 247,000 recalcitrants back home started after a UN decision of 1951 that condemned repatriation by force. This article clearly shows that propaganda policies aimed at the DPs were in place almost immediately after the war, resting on the war-time experience of conducting propaganda aimed at national minorities in foreign countries. However, Mikkonen is right to point out that, in general, repatriation after the Second World War was a success, as approximately five million people in total returned to the USSR. The Baltic refugees were a notable exception in this regard. Research shows that despite displays of obligatory optimism, Soviet propagandists could critically evaluate the situation and the effectiveness of Soviet agitation. They understood that war-time successes were the result of the coincidence of a number of favourable factors: victories of the Red Army, Allied censorship and propaganda, the penetration by Soviet agents of the British propaganda apparatus, etc. They knew that the British media was extensively controlled and served as a virtual extension of Soviet censorship and propaganda. Nevertheless, the Soviets were wrong to assume that in the West, the free press was nothing but an empty slogan. Moscow was also wrong to expect that the Western media, which had worked in the Soviet interest during the war, could as easily be turned against the Soviet Union as it had been directed to support the USSR by political will. In actual fact, the Soviet Union started receiving negative press primarily because earlier checks on journalistic freedom were lifted. The Soviet Union may have been a formidable propaganda state internally, but in foreign propaganda it was an apprentice. Soviet propagandists felt inferior compared to their Western counterparts, and rightly so. In October of 1945, an official of the SIB noted jealously that the Foreign Department of the British Information Ministry had two thousand clerks and there were four hundred British propagandists in the United States alone. Another Soviet official in the London embassy noted in February of 1947 that they had so few staff that he was working under constant nervous strain. Soviet propagandists were aware of the problems but could not effect fundamental changes because of the nature of the Stalinist regime. The issue of foreign journalists working in Moscow was a case in point. The correspondents were handicapped in their work by extremely strict censorship. They could report mostly only those things that also appeared in Soviet newspapers, which was hardly interesting for their readers in the West. There had been suggestions that some restrictions should be lifted so that they could do more useful work and tell more interesting and attractive stories about the Soviet Union. Eventually, during Stalin’s first postwar vacation in the autumn of 1945, Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov took the initiative and tried to ease the life of the press corps, but this only served to provoke the ire of Stalin who proceeded to penalise Molotov in due course. This showed that the system could not be changed as long as the extremely suspicious vozhd remained at the helm. Not only did correspondents continue to send unexciting content to newspapers abroad (which often failed to publish them), the form and style of Soviet articles, photos and films were increasingly unattractive for foreign audiences. Such propaganda could appeal only to those who were already “believers”. It could hardly convert. Moscow considered the activities of Baltic refugees in the West and the publicity regarding the Baltic problem a serious threat to the stability of the Soviet position in the newly occupied Baltic countries. Already during the war, but even more vigorously after the war, the Soviet propaganda apparatus realised the importance of tuning and adapting its propaganda messages for audiences among the Baltic diaspora. The Soviet bureaucracy expanded its cadres to enable it to tackle the Baltic “threat”. Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian officials were dispatched to the central organs in Moscow and to Soviet embassies abroad to provide the necessary language skills and qualifications for dealing with Baltic propaganda and working with the diaspora. The policy was to repatriate as many Balts as possible, but it was soon clear that repatriation along with the complementary propaganda effort was a failure. The next step was to start discrediting leaders of the Baltic diaspora and to isolate them from the “refugee masses”. This effort also failed. The “anti-Soviet hotbed” of “intrigues and espionage” – the words of the Estonian party boss Nikolai Karotamm – continued to operate in Sweden, the United States and elsewhere until the end of the Cold War. All this time, the diaspora engaged in anti-Communist propaganda and collaborated with Western propaganda and media organisations, such as the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and even Vatican Radio. In the 1980s and 1990s, the diaspora was instrumental in assisting Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to regain their independence from the collapsing Soviet Union. They also helped their native countries to “return to Europe” – that is to join Western structures such as the European Union and NATO. Therefore, the inability to deal with the Baltic problem effectively in the 1940s caused major concerns for the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War and contributed to its eventual demise.

The European Union (EU) is a multilingual union, which has 27 official languages. There is no other international or regional organisation that has so many official languages. Since its very beginning, the official languages of the member states are the official languages of the EU. The multilingualism of the EU is not just about the official languages of the EU but also because of the numerous indigenous regional and minority languages. The language policy of the EU can be traced back to the Treaty of Rome and the first regulation. Since then, the language policy of the EU has changed parallel with the developments and changes within the EU and in the world. First, it was evaluated as a tool for personal development and integration, but with the changes in the globalized world, it became a tool to increase the competitiveness of the EU, which can be seen as a soft power at the international level. This chapter aims to show the changing role of the EU's language policy and its current status as a powerful tool in the knowledge-based economies at the international level.

This chapter is about the development of Parental Leave in Japan, and in particular efforts to increase take-up by fathers. Before the first legislation was agreed in 1991 under the LDP conservative government, there were repeated efforts to introduce legislation, in which the trade unions played an important role and with advocates referring to research on European countries and recommendations by international organisations. Most of the subsequent developments to Parental Leave were based on recommendations by official bodies consisting of representatives of employers, workers and public interests, then agreed by government and designed by civil servants. Today, fathers in Japan can take 12 months of paid leave, with six months paid at 67% of earnings, yet the take-up rate remains low, slightly over 3% of eligible fathers. The chapter argues that developments in leave policy have not been part of a broad and coordinated set of measures, combining Parental Leave policy with childcare policy, working hours legislation and changes to workplace culture. This has prevented the achievement of two stated goals, eliminating barriers for mothers to stay in the labour force and increasing fathers’ involvement in childcare and family life.

In recent years, destination management organisations have invested heavily in digital marketing, with online advertising accounting for over half of the total budget. This chapter aims to understand how tourism marketing has been adopted by Portugal's national tourism administration and the role of digital marketing in the country's tourism strategy. The country has been awarded as the best destination in the world (2017 to 2019) and Europe's leading destination (2017 to 2020) and has registered a significant evolution of the tourism sector. Turismo de Portugal is responsible for the country's tourism strategy and the international promotion of the destination, having been awarded as the best official tourism body in the world (2017 to 2019). This chapter combines secondary data (statistics and policy documents) and data from an interview with the Director of the Sales Support Direction of Turismo de Portugal. The results show a change in its communication strategy, being currently performed exclusively online, accompanying the consumer during all stages of the travel cycle.

The concept of sustainability began to dominate tourism debates after the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, the Earth Summit in Rio de Janerio in 1992. Ecotourism is the fastest growing sector, with an estimated growth rate of 25 to 30 percent, of one of the largest industries in the world. The motto of Action Program for Sustainable Development was that “Only whatever can be sustained by nature and society in the long term permissible.” The World Conservation Union expanded this definition as follows: “Ecotourism is environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature that promotes conservation, has low negative visitor impact, and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local populations.” There are two major problems with respect to ecotourism: achieving ecologic integrity of the ecotourism resource and, increasing and ensuring consistency of quality of the recreation experience for the ecotourist. Economic, environmental and social impacts involved in ecotourism should be balanced within ethical principles. The first official reference to the concept of ecotourism in Turkey was made in the Eighth Five-Year Development Plan (2001-2005). The aim of this study is to explore social impacts of ecotourism in Turkey. Some projects and surveys related with ecotourism will be considered in order to get better understanding of social impacts of ecotourism on the lives of local people in Turkey.