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

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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 

The UNWTO Asia-Pacific Newsletter 41st Issue, sponsored by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea, was produced in collaboration with the Kyung Hee University in Korea which is one of the UNWTO Affiliate Members.

In the 41st Edition, current tourism related activities of UNWTO, news from our Member States, destination report of Samoa, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and other issues have been featured. The AP Newsletter is available at our website.

Link:

/newsletters

PRESS RELEASE

CHINA NATIONAL TOURISM ADMINISTRATION

04 JAN 2016

Witnessing the Development of Tourism under Concerted Efforts

     —At the Moment of Releasing 2015 Top 10 News of Chinese Tourism Industry

“Taking fast but steady steps to come over mountains and hills.” The just-concluded Central Economic Working Conference proposed to upgrade and transform tourism so as to let tourism play a positive role in driving investment, consumption, export and thus economic development. At this inspiring moment, CNTA Information Office now releases the long-awaited “2015 Top 10 News of Chinese Tourism Industry”.

The top 10 news are all major events covered by media home and abroad, and have propelled the tourism reform forward. Thus they are representative and innovative, receiving much attention of the whole society. By releasing the top 10 news, we are summarizing this year’s work, encouraging better development in the future, and promoting the in-depth understanding of the tourism industry and concerted efforts to develop tourism.

It is noteworthy that these top 10 news were selected with collective wisdom. Since late November, CNTA Information Office have invited major media at central level and from the industry to summarize major events within the tourism sector, and thus selected 30 candidate news, among which, 10 were pinned down as “2015 Top 10 News of Chinese Tourism Industry” by a committee formed by senior tourism journalists, scholars of journalism colleges and experts in tourism industry.

Together with the TOP 10 News of Chinese Tourism Industry, CNTA has also released the 2015 Top 10 Personalities in Chinese Tourism Industry and the 2015 Top 10 News of World Tourism Industry.

Li Jinzao, Chairman of China National Tourism Administration, stated ¨World tourism had a positive overall landscape in 2015, and we are getting ready for the even brighter 2016 right ahead.¨ in his message – Promoting Tourism with Global Perspective. (Please click here to see the message).

It is believed that under the leadership of CPC Central Committee and the State Council and the support of whole society, Chinese tourism can overcome hardships and achieve further progress with our concerted efforts.

Top Ten News of Chinese Tourism Industry in 2015 

1. Acting in line with the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, launching a nationwide revolution of tourist toilet

2. China’s Travel & Tourism Sector Contributes over 10% of GDP and 10% of Total Employment

3. President Xi Jinping attended the China-Japan Friendly Exchange Conference and delivered an important speech during the visit of a 3,000-member Japanese tourism delegation in China

4. “China Tourism Year” was held successfully in ROK with President Xi Jinping and President Park Geun-hye sending letters of congratulation, and Premier Li Keqiang and Speaker of the National Assembly of the ROK Chung Ui-hwa attending the closing ceremony

5. On July 28, the Several Opinions on Further Promoting Tourism Investment and Consumption was adopted by the Executive Meeting of the State Council presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, in which the tourism investment promotional plan was clearly put forward for the first time

6. Carrying out the One Belt and One Road initiative, holding the Year of Silk Road Tourism

7. “Tourism+” Action Plan was issued to foster new driving force for economic development

8. Record of indecent tourist behaviors was established to enhance regulation on tourism civility

9. Life-tenure of 5A scenic spots was abolished to activate the dynamic management mechanism for scenic spots

10. Tourism has become a major method of poverty alleviation as rural tourism lifted tens of millions of people out of poverty

Further information on the top 10 news can be found at here.

Top Ten Personalities in Chinese Tourism Industry in 2015

Gao Qiuling, Tourist, Hubei

Hu Dayi, Tourist, Beijing

Li Lingyu, Tour Guide, Ningxia

Liu Menggang, Tour Guide, Guangxi

Liu Yi, General Manager, Beijing Tourism Group (BTG)

Lin Shaoqing, Chairman, Fujian Renwoyou Technology Development Co., Ltd.

Shi Xin,Tourism Volunteer, Shenzhen

Su Zhigang, Chairman, Chimelong Group Co., Ltd

Wang Ping, President, China Chamber of Tourism

Ye Hongmin, Party Secretary, Langsi Zhuangyuan Village, Xiuning County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province

The CV of each personality can be found by clicking the name.

Further information on this news realease is available at the CNTA’s official website http://en.cnta.gov.cn/. 

UNWTO and PATA are happy to present the 3rd edition of the Tourism Updates. As with the two preceding editions the main objectives of these bi-monthly tourism updates are identified as follows:

• To synthesize and summarize the impact of external factors on the travel and tourism sector, specifically in the Asia-Pacific region.
• To highlight the major external factors impacting tourism trends in Asia and the Pacific region such as IT impact, important social media, political issues and the like.
• To analyze the key changing tourism trends associated with the external factors mentioned above.
• To raise awareness of the post-2015 Development Agenda which includes the new 17-point set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), from attaining gender equality to growing urbanization and promoting inclusive society that have a potentially huge impact on tourism.
• Tourism related/specific SDGs

It is noteworthy that the United Nations declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

Tourism in Asia and the Pacific has been growing above the average of the global trends and is fast increasing its share of the market which is estimated to reach 30% in 2030 from the current 23%. However, economic and financial stability of the world market is a prerequisite for tourism growth and this factor is dealt with in detail in this 3^rd edition as outlined by the UNCTAD conference held in Geneva on the 6^th October 2015. Other subjects having a bearing on Asia Pacific tourism that will catch the eye of tourism stakeholders include youth employment, the role of women in peace and security, sustainable energy tracking process in the region, transport projects bridging South Asia and Southeast Asia as advocated by the Asian Development Bank, amongst others.

UNWTO wishes its readers a Merry X’Mas and a Happy New Year! 

Link:

UNWTO / PATA Tourism Updates Issue 3