Friday, 26 September 2014

World Tourism Day 2014, 27 September





 


  


This year's observance of World Tourism Day focuses on the ability of tourism to fully empower people. Engaging local populations in tourism development builds stronger and more resilient communities.
Tourism helps people to develop a variety of skills. As a service sector with cross-cutting impact on agriculture, construction or handicrafts, tourism creates millions of jobs and business opportunities. Its capacity to lift people from poverty, promote gender empowerment and help protect the environment has made it a vital tool for achieving positive change in communities across the world. 
Harnessing tourism's benefits will be critical to achieving the sustainable development goals and implementing the post-2015 development agenda.
On World Tourism Day, I encourage the international tourism community to commit to sustainable policies and ensure that host communities worldwide share in the benefits generated by tourism.

Ban Ki-moon



Each time we travel, use local transport at a destination or buy products from a local market we are contributing to a long value chain that creates jobs, provides livelihoods, empowers local communities, and ultimately brings in new opportunities for a better future.
The theme of World Tourism Day 2014 – Tourism and Community Development – brings to the forefront the potential that tourism has to promote new socio-economic opportunities and better livelihoods for communities around the world while highlighting the critical role that community engagement has in advancing sustainable development.
Tourism is a people-based economic activity built on social interaction, and as such can only prosper if it engages the local population by contributing to social values such as participation, education and enhanced local governance. At the same time, there can be no real tourism development if such development damages in any way the values and the culture of host communities or if the socio-economic benefits generated by the tourism sector do not trickle down to the community level. As stated in the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, “local populations should be associated with tourism activities and share equitably in the economic, social and cultural benefits they generate”. 
As we approach the 2015 deadline established for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and prepare to embrace the new Sustainable Development Goals, this year’s World Tourism Day represents an opportunity to further advance tourism’s contribution to economic, social and environmental sustainability. Empowering individuals and communities around the world at all levels through tourism can be a fundamental step towards these goals.  
On the occasion of World Tourism Day 2014, I would like to invite all tourism stakeholders and host communities to come together and celebrate this day as a symbol of our common efforts in making tourism a true pillar of community development and community development the basis of a more sustainable tourism sector. 

Taleb Rifai
Secretary-General
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)



This year’s World Tourism Day (WTD) draws special attention to the role of tourism in contributing to one of the building blocks of a more sustainable future for all: Community development. This focus is in line with the global transition to the Sustainable Development Goals as the guiding principle promoted by the UN from 2015 and beyond.

As a sector representing 9% of global GDP, one in 11 jobs worldwide, and a key revenue sector for developing and emerging economies, tourism is widely acknowledged for its capacity to respond to global challenges. The consolidation of tourism’s economic influence has built up its social responsibility and political relevance, with a growing number of countries allocating a stronger mandate to tourism in economic and development policy planning.

With the special focus on the community, WTD 2014 highlights how tourism can be conducive to advancing sustainable development from the grassroots level. Community based tourism involves the local population in the decision making process according to local priorities. The opportunity to become part of the tourism value chain actively involves host communities in the development process. Tourism thus becomes a catalyst of social cohesion, going beyond the immediate impact of job creation and its positive economic consequences and enhances, for instance, local governance capabilities which multiply the tourism impact even further.

This year's official celebrations will take place in Guadalajara, Mexico and include a high-level Think Tank on the 2014 theme with the participation of tourism Ministers, international experts and policy makers in the field of tourism and development.

To keep up-to-date with this year’s WTD activities, and to learn more about the theme Tourism & Community Development, bookmark the WTD website and follow UNWTO on Facebook and Twitter (hashtag #WTD2014).


Join the Forum : 27 September is World Tourism Day.
 World Tourism Day (WTD) is held annually on 27 September.
Its purpose is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value


Partners Voices : 





World Tourism Day 2014 Official Event : Programme and Registration

The official 2014 WTD celebrations will be held in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, on 27 September.
Interested in attending?  Please send your full name and contact details to dmt@sectur.gob.mx in order to receive an online registration link.


Accreditation desks will be open in Guadalajara, at locations to be determined, one day before the celebration.
The preliminary version of the programme of the official WTD celebrations;

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