Tourism’s sustained growth and its capacity to tackle global challenges – from economic crises and persistent unemployment to environmental pressures and the poverty imperative – can only be achieved through collective action. This was the central message coming out of the Global Tourism Forum Andorra 2011 (GTF) which ended Monday.
The forum which began Sunday concluded in Andorra with calls for the international tourism community to move the tourism agenda forward sustainably and in full coordination and collaboration.
“During this Forum I trust you will determine how to set tourism development on a path that will always be both competitive and responsible, taking into consideration new challenges,” said the Prime Minister of Andorra, Jaume Bartumeu, as he officially opened the GTF.
Over 200 representatives from the public and private sector, United Nations agencies, regional and international organizations such as the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), academia and civil society; attended the event designed to chart new pathways for tourism growth.
UNWTO secretary-general Taleb Rifai said: “We at UNWTO have a long history of cooperation with Andorra. We are going to continue to be active in the snow and mountain conferences that are being held in Andorra. Next year, we are going to have another conference here in Andorra,” adding; “The Global Tourism Forum represents yet another important step in strengthening and enforcing our already strong relationship.”
On Andorra’s part, the prime minister of Andorra himself, Jaume Bartumeu, along with Andorra Tourism Minister Claudi Benet and Economy Minister Pere Lopez were all said to have been very much active in the planning of the UNWTO event,all of whom were in attendance at some point during the conference.
“The tourism sector is a huge employer, creator of economic security and contributor to society,” said Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, addressing the Forum. “It is essential to development and can champion the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals”.
The Forum centered on the challenges and opportunities of competitiveness and responsibility for the tourism sector. Ministers of Tourism, industry leaders and heads of travel organizations outlined the necessary steps for a more competitive tourism sector, such as strengthening private-public partnerships and addressing taxation on travel through concerted action. The Secretary of Tourism of Mexico, Gloria Guevara, pointed to a common agenda between the private and public sector as a central condition for competitive growth. Issues of local community involvement in tourism development, best practices and the three pillars of sustainability – economic, environmental and social – were central to discussions on responsibility.
Side events throughout the day addressed further tourism issues, including the increasing relevance of mega events for tourism, organized by Visa, at which the Minister of Tourism of South Africa, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, shared his experience of the economic and social legacy resulting from the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The WEF launched its Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011 and the contribution of traditional and new media to communicating tourism’s importance was debated during an event organized by UNWTO global media partner CNN.
The GTF was preceded by a High Level Retreat, at which tourism leaders from across the sector met to share insights and expertise on how to further mainstream tourism in the global agenda and its role in sustainable development.
At the event’s opening ceremony, which was held on March 6, Andorra Prime Jaume Bartumeu said: “I would like to thank Mr. Rifai and the UNWTO for [allowing] us to host this event here in Andorra. Our government – myself, the ministers of tourism and economy – have been working on this event for some time. We believe that Andorra is the perfect and ideal place [to host these types of events].”
Under the theme, “Building New Models for Tourism Growth: Competitiveness and Responsibility,” the UNWTO Global Tourism Forum held sessions on “The State of the Industry: Global Outlook,” “Creating Competitive Framework in Tourism: Key Factors to Stimulate Growth,” and “Investing in Responsible Tourism: Contributing to a Fair and Inclusive Growth.”
One of the first-ever UNWTO Global Tourism Forum’s highlights was a keynote speech (via live video conference) by Jeffrey Sachs, who is the director of Columbia University’s The Earth Institute. Prof. Sachs has served as a special advisor to two United Nations secretary-generals, Ban Ki-moon and Kofi Annan, respectively.
In his speech, Prof. Sachs emphasized the significance of the travel and tourism industry. He also pointed out that the industry is very much vulnerable to various environmental and societal intricacies. He said: “The tourism industry is a huge employer, is a huge creator of economic values, it’s a huge benefit to society, yet it is enormously vulnerable, and it can be a huge beneficiary of rapid growth in developing countries. But it is extremely vulnerable to the increasing destabilization from the lack of attention to sustainable development in the world.”
Professor Sachs urged the industry to raise its voice to tell governments to get more serious on these environmental, food, and energy issues.”
Also present at the two-day event are Mexican Tourism Minister Gloria Guevara Manzo, South African Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwy, World Travel & Tourism Council president David Scowsill, Visit Britain chairman Christopher Rodrigues, Pacific Asia Travel Association chairman Hiran Cooray, and greenearth.travel chairman Geoffrey Lipman, UNESCO World Heritage Center deputy director Marina Apaydin, to name just a few.
UNWTO says its Global Tourism Forum “endeavors to promote tourism’s unquestionably valuable role as a factor contributing to the recovery of the global economy.”
The UN-specialized agency on tourism added that tourism “is a sector that stands out in terms of its effectiveness as a creator of jobs, its high degree of competiveness, and its increasingly keen awareness of the need for sustainable development.
In their separate speeches during the closing ceremony of the inaugural Global Tourism Forum, it was made clear by both UNWTO Secretary-General Rifai and Minister Lopez that Andorra will once again host UNWTO’s Global Tourism Forum “same time next year.”
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