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"USE TOURISM IN
WAR ON POVERTY" - WORLD LEADERS
URGED
NEW YORK,:
Representatives from governments and
industry strongly backed the World Tourism
Organization's call to increase tourism to
help realize the United Nations'
Millennium Development Goals. Meeting at
the invitation of WTO Secretary-General
Francesco Frangialli in New York on the
eve of the Special United Nations General
Assembly, they agreed a declaration that
calls on the United Nations and public,
private and civil society decision makers
worldwide to encourage tourism as one of
the most effective tools for sustainable
growth in the world's poorest
countries.
UNICEF, ICAO, NEPAD,
UNDP, UNCTAD as well as Ministers of
Tourism, industry leaders and NGO's joined
with the World Tourism Organization
(WTO).
"Tourism needs
greater recognition by governments and
development institutions for its capacity
to generate economic, environmental and
social benefits," Mr. Frangialli said. "It
is also a sector that promotes
inter-cultural understanding and peace
among nations." "For poor countries and
small island states, tourism is the
leading export - often the only
sustainable growth sector of their
economies and a catalyst for many related
sectors. It can play a key role in the
overall achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals by 2015"
The Declaration
calls for: · Tourism to be integrated
into all development and poverty reduction
strategies, with an emphasis on positive
linkages with local economic
activities.
· Increased
recognition of the role of Tourism in
national economies, using Tourism
Satellite Accounts to measure the scale of
the sector and its
linkages with other
sectors.
· Good
governance by host countries and tourism
providers, with a strong emphasis on
social and cultural development, built
around the WTO Global Code of Ethics and
the campaign against exploitation of
children.
· Mobilization
of financing for tourism infrastructure,
market access, human capacity and
technology in developing states as well as
local level micro credit
schemes.
· Support for
the WTO ST-EP initiative to use
Sustainable Tourism for Elimination of
Poverty (ST-EP) through ecotourism, sports
tourism and rural tourism programs at
community level.
· Recognition
of the interrelationship of aviation and
tourism as well as the need to increase
air service access to poor countries, and
special measures and funding to meet
safety, security and facilitation
standards for those markets.
· Action to
harness the human resource potential of
poor people in the delivery of quality
service through the tourism value
chain.
· Higher
priority for tourism liberalization in the
Doha Development Round, to capitalise at
the forthcoming Hong Kong Summit on its
potential as an export and economic driver
for small island and poor
states.
· Support for
the 2003 Djerba Declaration on Climate
Change and Tourism so that the industry
can effectively play its role in
greenhouse gas reduction and destinations
are protected from adverse impacts of
climate change.
· Endorsement
of the UN Secretary-General's initiatives
to introduce innovative financial support
mechanisms for development, while urging
that any voluntary taxes aimed at air
travel respect international aviation
accords and avoid burdening tourism flows
to poor countries.
· Improved
access to the UNDP's GEF (Global
Environment Facility) funding for tourism
development projects - particularly
ecotourism and water development
projects.
The Declaration was
transmitted to all States and
Organizations participating in the 60th
Session of the General Assembly of the
United Nations.
For further
information please contact:
Rok Klancnik, WTO
Press and Communications
Department
T: (34) 91-567-8191
/ F: (34) 91-567-8218
Email:
comm@world-tourism.org
www.world-tourism.org
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..World
Tourism Organization
