UNWTO International Conference on Heritage Tourism:

How Do We Foster, Present and Preserve World Treasures?

Nara, Japan

February 24-26, 2016

From February 24-26, the UNWTO International Conference on Heritage Tourism was co-organized by the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) with support from the Nara Prefectural Government and focused on the question: How Do We Foster, Present and Preserve World Treasures? The conference took place in Nara, Japan home to the Monuments of Ancient Nara, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.

There were 185 participants in attendance from the public and private sectors, international organizations, non-profits, and academic institutions representing 36 countries from around the world. Speakers and participants shared their experiences in developing and promoting heritage tourism and the challenges they’ve encountered to maintain sustainable levels of visitation.

Ms. Yuri Furusawa, Vice Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency opened the conference by speaking of Japan’s commitment to become “a tourism oriented country” and the importance of the election of Japan to the Executive Council of UNWTO. Mr. Hae-Guk Hwang Regional Deputy Director for Asia and the Pacific at UNWTO highlighted Japan’s impressive achievement to have a 45% growth for inbound tourism with an extraordinary 55% increase in earnings through November 2015. He also emphasized UNWTO’s commitment to further study the integration of tourism and culture with the establishment of the Tourism and Culture office UNWTO Headquarters in Madrid, Spain.  Mr. Turuo Namikoshi, Vice Governor of Nara Prefecture, officially welcomed welcomed all of the participants to Nara Prefecture and emphasized the rich heritage found throughout the prefecture. The conference consisted of three sessions: 1) Compatibility of Preservation and Utilization 2) Refinement of Tourism Resources 3) Sustainable Utilization.

Full Report is able to be downloaded here

PR No.: 16016

One of the major events organized by UNWTO at ITB Berlin will be the 6^th UNWTO Silk Road Ministers’ Meeting (9 March). The meeting brings together Ministers and high ranking officials from over 20 countries to discuss how public/private sector partnerships (PPPs) can contribute to advancing tourism on the Silk Road. The meeting will focus on the valuable role of PPPs in marketing and promotion, infrastructure development, heritage management, aviation, major events and risk and crisis management. On the occasion, UNWTO will launch the Silk Road Action Plan 2016/2017. In addition, the 5^th UNWTO Silk Road Tour Operators’ Forum (10 March) will take place as a means to empower inbound Silk Road tour operators to better understand, engage and work with the international travel trade.

UNWTO will also hold the 31^st Meeting of the World Tourism Network on Child Protection (10 March), an initiative to prevent all forms of child and youth exploitation in the tourism sector. Under the chairmanship of Carol Bellamy, the Chair of the Network and former Executive Director of UNICEF, the meeting will focus on Responsible Business Strategies and Child Protection in Tourism,’ highlighting the good practices championed by the tourism industry. The event will feature interventions from ABTA, TUI Group, as well as the Chair of the High Level Global Task Force to End Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism Najat Maalla M’jid, who will share the results of the Global Study on the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism.

Additionally, the UNWTO Secretary-General will be a keynote speaker at the ITB Ministers' Roundtable: “Tourism in the 21st century: new business models in a digital world”, an event organized by the ITB Convention Programme in collaboration with UNWTO. The theme of this year’s roundtable will be the ‘Digitalization of economy and society’.

ITB 2016 will also be the stage for the launch of two UNWTO Affiliate Members Reports – the ‘Global Report on The Transformative Power of Tourism’ focusing on the role of socially and environmentally responsible practices in the sector, produced by UNWTO and the Institute for Tourism of Croatia; and the ‘Global Report on The Power of Youth Travel’, now in its second edition, developed incooperation with the World Youth Student and Educational Travel Confederation (WYSETC).

Finally, UNWTO has partnered with the International Trade Centre (ITC) to promote the Kayah State of Myanmar during ITB Berlin. Since 2014, ITC has been working with the Government of Myanmar on an inclusive tourism project aimed at supporting the local tourism sector through the development of cultural and eco-tourism products. UNWTO joins ITC and Myanmar to showcase the multiple benefits arising from this project by co-organizing a series of events throughout the fair including a press conference, a seminar and a number of business to business events.
 

Additional information:

Download the full program of UNWTO activities at ITB
Visit the page of the Silk Road Ministers Meeting
Know more about the Affiliate Members Programme       
Know more about the Myanmar activities at ITB Berlin    
31st meeting of the World Tourism Network on Child Protection

Contact:

UNWTO Media Officer: Rut Gómez Sobrino
Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme
Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218

Category tags

PR No.: 16017

The high level segment of the Conference on ‘Sustainable Development through Tourism’ will analyze how to advance the contribution of tourism to the 17 SDGs, including the sector’s ability to create jobs, promote local culture and be an agent of change towards more sustainable consumption and production (SCP) practices.

Moderated by CNN anchor and correspondent, Richard Quest, the high level segment will discuss how countries can align their national development strategies with the SDGs and the role of public and private partnerships in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

“Tourism is one of the most dynamic economic sectors, with significant global reach, and as such can make an important contribution to the achievement of the SDGs, particularly in the areas of job creation, sustainable consumption and production and the preservation of natural resources, as stated in Goal 8, Goal 12 and Goal 14 of the SDGs,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

The conference will be complemented with two high level sessions focusing on:

-          ‘Tourism for Poverty Reduction’ which will discuss how governments, the international community, the private sector, and academia can collaborate to enhance tourism’s contribution to poverty reduction and how to better integrate marginalized and disadvantaged groups, particularly youth and women, into the global tourism value chain.

-          ‘Tourism for Peace’ which will focus on the links between tourism and the building blocks of peace – social justice, human rights, economic equity, sustainable development, democracy and non-violence. The session will also explore how to make the sector more “peace-sensitive” and outline opportunities and the way forward to ensure tourism can play an effective role in peace building.

Rural tourism to fight poverty in China

The celebration of the First World Conference on Tourism for Development in China comes after the decision of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development of China to promote rural tourism as an effective means to fight poverty. 

The positive impact of tourism is behind the decision of Chinese authorities to launch the 13th Five-Year Plan Period, a nationwide tourism development plan to lift 17% of the country’s impoverished population out of poverty by 2020. According to this plan, CNTA and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development of China expect that by 2020, three million rural tourism businesses will be receiving two billion annual visitors, lifting two million of China’s rural population out of poverty every year. The total income generated is estimated to reach over one trillion RMB Yuan benefiting 50 million rural residents.

Useful links:

First World Conference on Tourism for Development website: www.tourismfordevelopment.org

Contact:

UNWTO Media Officer: Rut Gómez Sobrino

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218