Mexico will receive the World Tourism Award 2001 at this year's World Travel Market (WTM) in November, it has been announced.

The award will be presented to the Mexico Ministry of Tourism and the Mexico Tourism Board at a special ceremony soon after the official opening of the WTM in London on November 12, organisers said.

The fourth annual World Tourism Award will "recognise the newly forged Public/Private Sector partnership, the Consejo de Promocion Turistica de Mexico (Mexico Tourism Board), and the dramatic increase in tourism to Mexico", a spokesman said.

It is sponsored by American Express, Avis, International Herald Tribune and Reed Travel Exhibitions.

The Mexico Tourism Board was created in September 2000, as part of a public and private partnership formed by Mexico's tourism industry and state and federal governments, to promote travel to the Latin American country.

It functions as an executive agency of Mexico's ministry of tourism, with autonomous management and the broad participation of the private sector.

Statistics released by the Banco de Mexico, the country's central bank, shows that more than 12 million international travellers visited Mexico in the first seven months of 2000, representing a 43 per cent increase over the same period in 1999.

Industry forecasts indicate that Mexico will have received 20 million foreign visitors in 2000, almost double the figure of just over 10 million in 1999.

The opening day of WTM will also see the launch of a second global summit through peace to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from October 14-17 next year.

The summit, being organised by the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) is in support of the UN Decade of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the world.