PR No.: PR11030
Mountain resort professionals, from the Alps to the Rockies, as well as Asian destinations including the Republic of Korea, will debate how snow and mountain destinations can respond to current and future challenges, while remaining competitive and sustainable, at the 7th World Congress on Snow and Mountain Tourism (Grenoble, France, 15th -16th September 2011).
Leading experts will gather at the Congress to present current trends in the snow and mountain tourism market, following the strong rebound in international tourism witnessed in 2010. The Congress will also outline the current and future challenges facing mountain professionals as they strive to successfully develop their tourism businesses.
Among the challenges to be discussed is that of maintaining local identities and natural resources while meeting visitor needs for comfort and services. Participants will also debate the role of creativity and innovation in addressing issues such as seasonality and the opportunities of new social media for mountain tourism.
The opportunities offered to mountain destinations by both domestic and international tourism markets are a further issue on the agenda. Many major destinations have found success in specializing in activities such as hiking or adventure sports, guaranteeing a loyal clientele. Smaller and medium-sized resorts, however, are diversifying their supply with new products based on local resources such as culture or gastronomy.
Regularly bringing together over 300 international participants, the World Congress on Snow and Mountain Tourism has emerged as the principal forum for addressing the major issues and challenges for mountain tourism in all its forms and seasons. Speakers at the 2011 edition include experts from academia, managing directors of leading snow and mountain tourism destinations from Argentina to China, and government representatives, including the Minister of Tourism of Andorra, Claudi Benet Mas, the Mayor of Grenoble, Michel Destot, and the State Secretary of Tourism of Serbia, Goran Petkovic.
Since 1998, the World Congress on Snow and Mountain Tourism, jointly organized by the Government of Andorra and UNWTO, has been held every two years in Andorra. From 2011 onwards, the Congress will become an annual event and will be held in Andorra every two years and outside of Andorra every other year.
The 2011 edition is being hosted by Grenoble, France, in collaboration with Alpexpo, Grenoble’s convention centre and the 2012 edition will meet in the Andorran parish of La Massana (11-12 April 2012).
Registration and more information
Contacts:
Principal Media Officer: Marcelo Risi
Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60
mrisi@UNWTO.org
UNWTO Communications Programme
Tel: +34 91-567-8100
Fax: +34 91-567-8218
comm@UNWTO.org
The importance of removing travel barriers to facilitate tourist flows was top of the agenda during the recent visit of UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, to Russia (Moscow, Russia, 14 March 2011).
The issue of travel barriers was among the key issues discussed by the UNWTO Secretary-General during his recent visit to Russia. Meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Zhukov, Mr. Rifai praised the importance given to this question in the country. “I am extremely pleased to see that the critical issue of removing travel barriers such as complicated visa formalities and cross border procedures in order to facilitate tourist flows is a priority within Russian tourism policy,” he said.
Furthermore, Mr. Rifai addressed the need to support the speedy return of tourism flows to North Africa and the Middle East while meeting with several Russian high representatives including the Chairman of the Council of Federation, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, Sergey Mironov, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gennady Gatilov, the Deputy Minister of Sport, Tourism and Youth Affairs, Nadezhda Nazina as well as the Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism, Alexander Radkov.
Discussions held during the visit included further tourism issues, namely the upcoming Winter Olympics (2014) and the FIFA World Cup (2018) to be held in Russia; UNWTO-Russia cooperation to advance tourism in the Russian regions; and UNWTO technical assistance in the development of cruise tourism in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions.
“Upcoming sporting mega-events will offer Russia unmatched global exposure and massive opportunities for nation branding and promotion,” said Mr. Rifai. “To ensure that these opportunities are harnessed responsibly, UNWTO and Russia will hold a series of joint seminars to share knowledge on the linkages between tourism and mega-events, focusing particularly on the legacy value of such events”.
UNWTO Secretary-General was visiting Moscow to open the 6th edition of the international tourism fair Intourmarket, and attend the seminar on ‘Effective Governance in Tourism Destination Development’, jointly organized by UNWTO and the Russian Federation.
Russia registered over 22 million international tourist arrivals in 2010. Russia is currently one of the top ten most important outbound markets in the world and one of the fastest growing (up by over 20% in 2010).
The first UNWTO Silk Road Ministers’ Summit, held at ITB 2011, has concluded with commitment to enhanced cooperation to achieve the objectives of the Silk Road Action Plan, a collaborative framework for advancing tourism development across 25 countries (Berlin, Germany, 9-13 March 2011).
“This is an exciting period in the development of Silk Road tourism,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, welcoming Tourism Ministers and Ambassadors from over 25 Silk Road countries. “The Silk Road is a powerful brand for leveraging continued tourism growth in Asia and the Middle East, while utilizing online technologies and social media. Nevertheless, there are still many barriers to be overcome as we work towards our objectives, including improved travel facilitation for tourists.”
At the Summit (9 March), UNWTO highlighted the importance of promoting a consistent and cohesive Silk Road brand identity across destinations. The results of preliminary online market research were revealed showing the Silk Road as the world’s most searched and sought after international travel route. UNWTO also introduced a web initiative which it has been developing with TripAdvisor, designed to promote all of the Silk Road destinations on one unique, informative and interactive online platform.
Ministers, Vice Ministers and Ambassadors from over 25 countries participated in the Summit, sharing their views and experiences on how they could benefit from cooperating with other destinations to drive development through the Silk Road brand. Tour operators urged the destinations to consider the importance of increasing accessibility, tourism infrastructure and the development of a reliable product.
UNWTO outlined the Silk Road Action Plan activities implemented so far and presented key objectives for the coming years. Priorities include comprehensive brand research and the establishment of a Silk Road brand toolkit. Travel facilitation is also high on the agenda.
Following the Summit, Mr. Rifai joined President and CEO of Messe Berlin GmbH, Mr. Raimund Hosch, on a VIP Walk on the Silk Road, meeting the Ministers on their stands and visiting the new Silk Road pavilions.
Other Silk Road events at ITB included the Silk Road Tour Operators’ Networking Event where outbound and incoming tour operators met to explore new business opportunities along the Silk Road and the Silk Road Hour, a collection of short films featuring the destinations of the Silk Road, screened daily at the ITB Cinema.
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Women make up an important percentage of the tourism workforce, but more work must be done to close the wealth and skills gap between men and women employed in tourism, according to a new World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)/UN Women report launched at the ITB tourism fair in Berlin (11 March 2011).
According to the ‘Global Report on Women in Tourism’ - the first survey to map women’s participation in the tourism sector worldwide - tourism, one of the world’s largest generators of wealth and employment, provides a wide range of income-generation opportunities for women, particularly in developing regions. Women are almost twice as likely to be employers in tourism as compared to others sectors. Tourism also offers leadership possibilities, with women accounting for one in five tourism ministers worldwide; more than in any other branch of government. Nevertheless, women are often “concentrated in low-skill, low-paid and precarious jobs”, typically earn “10% to 15% less than their male counterparts” and tend to perform jobs such as cooking, cleaning and hospitality, states the report.
Gladys Acosta, UN Women Director for Latin America, pointed out that women’s contribution to the tourism sector is often invisible. “In the Caribbean for example, 84% of contributing family work – unpaid – to tourism activities is provided by women. This is one of the key areas to address in promoting gender equality in tourism,” she said.
“This report highlights the crucial role tourism plays in empowering women politically, socially and economically,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. ”But it makes it very clear that more must be done to close the gender gap, in particular ensuing equal pay for men and women for equal work, raising employment quality and ending all discrimination”.
The report shows relevant data in five main areas: employment, entrepreneurship, leadership, education and community, comparable by regions. It provides policymakers and operators recommendations on how to promote more gender sensitive policies and integrate gender equality into corporate decisions, including strengthening the legal protection of women in tourism employment, providing higher-levels of training and greater opportunities for women to develop their businesses. “Greater gender equality will contribute to the overall quality of the tourist experience, with a considerable impact on profitability and quality across all aspects of the industry,” says the report.
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Note to Editors:
Since 2008, UNWTO and UN Women (formerly UNIFEM) have been working together to bring gender issues to the forefront of tourism, promoting gender equality, women’s empowerment and the mainstreaming of gender issues in national tourism policies and corporate decisions
The next ten years look set to be “the decade of travel and tourism”, says UNWTO Secretary-General opening the ITB Travel Trade Show (Berlin, Germany, 9-13 March).
Meeting at ITB against a “background of a recovering economy and significant geopolitical shifts”, the world is faced with the diverse and complex challenges of unbalanced economic growth, high unemployment, rising oil prices and the environmental imperative. As world leaders face up to these challenges, tourism can lead “a new decade of fairer, stronger and more sustainable growth” said Mr. Rifai, “and be one of the most effective agents of development”.
“As traditional economic sectors lose dynamism, it is clear that a second wave of service sectors, including tourism, are emerging. These are the industries that have exhibited particularly strong growth over the past few years. And these will be some of the most dynamic and economically significant industries and development agents of this decade,” he added.
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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) (Andorra la Vella, Andorra, 6-7 March).
The GTF has 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.
The GTF is envisaged as a “truly global and open platform for debate and exchange” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, addressing 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; brought together to chart new pathways for tourism growth.
“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.
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Conclusions and presentations will soon be available on the GTF website
The Forum as it happened on UNWTO’s twitter account