Travel & Tourism Taxation Policy Centre in the United States. In 1997, the WTTC organised the first Global Travel and Tourism Summit in Vilamoura, Portugal. Membership in the organisation reached 100 the same year. Two more summits were held in Vilamoura in 2000 and 2003, which were followed with annual meetings held in various locations. In 2013, the WTTC created the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative in partnership with the International Tourism Partnership. Organisation and membership The WTTC is headquartered in London. The staff are led by the president and CEO of WTTC. Seven directors head the different sections of the organisation. The WTTC members are the chief executives, presidents, or chairs of companies from different sectors and regions within the travel and tourism industry. The WTTC has two membership types: global members and regional members. It also has a category for companies that provide services to the industry, referred to as Industry Partnership. Current and past presidents 1990–2001: Geoffrey Lipman 2001–2010: Jean-Claude Baumgarten 2010–2017: David P. Scowsill 2017–2021: Gloria Guevara Manzo 2021-present: Julia Simpson Activities Research The WTTC performs and publishes research in conjunction with Oxford Economics on the economic and social impact of the travel and tourism industry. The foundation of the WTTC's research activity is a set of annually produced Travel & Tourism Economic Impact Reports. These include a global report as well as 24 regional and 184 country reports. The reports calculate the economic impact of the industry including the direct and total GDP impacts, direct and indirect employment, investment, and exports. Using models based on Tourism Satellite Accounting, the council reports one year and ten year forecasts for these impacts. This research is used by major publications including Forbes and Bloomberg News. It also supplies country indicators for the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, a report published by the World Economic Forum that ranks selected nations according to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. Summits The WTTC organises a global summit each year, usually held in April, with a regional summit held sometime in the third quarter, with up to 1,000 individuals attending each year. Summit attendance is by invitation only. Awards International jury of experts mainly from WTTC founded in 1993, the annual World Travel Awards. In 2004, the WTTC took over the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards. These awards were initially created by the Federation of Tour Operators in 1989 and taken over by British