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A Steppe in the Right Direction for World Tourism
Saturday, 05 Oct, 2009
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In a brand new building in a brand new city on the Kazakh Steppe, the World Tourism Organisation is trying to get world tourism to travel a new way.
The biggest-ever UNWTO General Assembly is being held in Astana, Kazakhstan. The New Eurasian city in the Steppe, conceived and designed as a ‘Berlin in Eurasian style’, is playing host this week to some 700 delegates from 140 of the 154 member nations of UNWTO. Notable exeptions are the USA, who have not yet joined and the UK who are to resign.
With unprecedented challenges in both the global economy and world environment, the organisation has much to deal with. Its new Secretary General, Taleb Rifai – the first from an Arab state – has been elected at a traumatic time in the organisations, and the industry’s, history.
Global tourism has encountered its first critical downturn and international tourism arrivals are set to show a reduction of 5% by the end of the year. Although domestic tourism is showing some growth, it is also expected that tourism spend is generally down, indicating dire times for an industry employing one on ten of the world’s population,
The industry is also challenged by the coming environmental crisis making tourists less and less inclined to travel.
The UNWTO’s answer is its ‘Roadmap to Recovery’, predicating the use of tourism as a potent economic stimulator and driving it, and its massive spending power towards the green economy.
Ban Ki-moon, The UN Secretary General has sent a message to the assembly applauding the organisation’s efforts to make tourism more sustainable, addressing climate change, working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and building a greener economy.
Kazakhstan’s minister of tourism, Temirkhan Dosmukhanbetov, has been elected president of the assembly which will run for the remainder of the week.
Valere Tjolle
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