The Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa has the primary objective of encouraging and assisting the development of legal and ethical tourism throughout the Southern African Region taking due consideration of the overall development of the people, the region and it’s cultural and natural resources.
It encourages and facilitates the movement and flow of tourists into the region, applying the necessary regional or national policies and mechanisms, which facilitate the liberalisation of exchange control regulation. Its work is largely focuses on community and rural based tourism, international and regional transport; tourism training and accommodation classification as well as encourage the consistency in the quality and maintenance of tourism standards in the region.
The Charter defines the existence and legal status of the Organisation, the conditions for membership with the Organisation as well as general principles of conduct by members. The Charter goes on to clarify the kind of cooperation expected of members. The structures of the Organisation, including the Secretariat and Board of Directors, are also identified and issues of funding and fees are explained.
