OREANDA-NEWS. The head of Rostourism, Zarina Doguzova, called on the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) not to politicize tourism and not to suspend Russia's membership in the organization. This was reported by TASS with reference to a letter from Doguzova to members of the executive board of the organization.

According to the text of the letter, the UNWTO secretariat announced an extraordinary session of the organization's executive council on March 8 in Madrid, at which it is planned to decide to convene its general assembly to consider the issue of expelling the Russian Federation from the organization.

Doguzova stressed that, in accordance with the mandate, issues of territorial integrity and sovereignty of countries do not fall within the competence of the UNWTO.

“Therefore, in our opinion, it is unacceptable to shift the focus of the organization's activities from the development of tourism to issues that are not under the jurisdiction of the UNWTO. We are convinced that tourism is designed to unite people, strengthen friendly ties between countries, while remaining free from politicization,” said the head of Rostourism.

Earlier, Rostourism urged not to sell tours to countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia.