PR No.: PR12001
Brunei became the latest country to join the Global Leaders for Tourism Campaign when His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’Izzaddin Waddualah accepted an Open Letter on the importance of travel and tourism (Brunei, 09 January).
“We will do our best to support tourism,” said His Majesty the Sultan upon receiving the Open Letter from UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. Tourism is of strategic importance for Brunei, His Majesty said, and based on two principal resources: the country’s pristine rainforest in the heart of Borneo, and its spiritual and cultural heritage. Environmental protection and conservation must therefore lie at the heart of any tourism development, he stressed.
“By accepting the Open Letter Brunei has become part of an increasingly important group of world leaders advocating for tourism as a means of economic growth and development including in Asia: China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Republic of Korea,” said Mr. Rifai.
The first UNWTO Secretary-General to visit Brunei, Mr. Rifai praised the country’s tourism strategy based on the two pillars of nature and culture. “The strength of Brunei tourism lies in its uniqueness,” said Mr. Rifai, applauding the country for focusing on its own unique assets. “In this way, Brunei is carving its own model of responsible tourism which will no doubt serve as an example to the rest of the world.”
David Scowsill, President & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) said: “Signing the Open Letter reiterates Brunei’s commitment to tourism, and demonstrates the country’s leadership role in the Travel & Tourism industry. This underlines that the government truly understands the impact on job creation and the positive economic impact that Travel & Tourism brings to global GDP. Travel & Tourism made a contribution of 5.8% of GDP in 2011 to the Brunei economy and supported 14,000 jobs, 6.9% of total employment.”
Mr. Rifai also met with Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Hon. Pehin Dato Yahya, who identified tourism as key to the economic diversification of Brunei. UNWTO has committed to work closely with the Ministry over the coming years, including in the implementation of Brunei’s tourism master plan, the exchange of experiences with other destinations in coastal and eco-tourism development and capacity building.
Note to Editors:
Through the Global Leaders for Tourism Campaign, UNWTO and WTTC are jointly presenting heads of state and government around the world an Open Letter which calls on them to acknowledge tourism’s key role in delivering more sustained and balanced growth and to prioritize the sector high in national policies in order to maximize its potential. The Open Letter outlines Travel & Tourism’s value as one of the world’s largest generators of jobs, a powerful driver of socio-economic growth and development and a key player in the transformation to the Green Economy.
Useful links:
Open Letter to Heads of State and Government
Further Information on the Joint Campaign
Media contacts:
UNWTO Principal Media Officer: Marcelo Risi
Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60
WTTC Media Relations Manager: Anja Eckervogt
Tel: (+44) 20 7481 6484
Statement from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports
According to the current flooding situation in various provinces in Thailand, to ensure tourist safety and security, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports in cooperation with the Tourist Police, Tourism Authority of Thailand and other related agencies, has initiated the flood affected tourists assistance plan for effective and systematic emergency preparedness as follows:
1. Trucks are provided for transferring tourists from their accommodations or other places to the Airport Rail Link at Makkasan station (City Air Terminal).
2. Officials are available at the Airport Rail Link at Makkasan station to facilitate and ensure tourist safety and security.
3. Officials are also available on board to facilitate and ensure tourist safety and security from Makkasan station traveling to Suvarnabhumi International Airport.
4. Officials are also available to facilitate and ensure tourist safety and security both at the Airport Rail Link at Suvarnabhumi International Airport station and inside the airport.
The stated services are in effective from 28 October 2011 until the situation is back to normal. Tourists can update on the current flooding situation at the following websites: thailandtourismupdate.com and tatnews.org.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports affirms that Suvarnabhumi International Airport remain in operation without any disruption. Tourists still can travel to other major destinations, such as Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Samui, and enjoy their holidays in Thailand.
Tourists can also fly directly from their origins by charter flights to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Samui, and Krabi.
9 November 2011
Ministry of Tourism and Sports
Statement from Ministry of Tourism and Sports
on the Current Situation of
Floods in Thailand
28 October 2011
On behalf of Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Thailand, we would like to update on the current situation on the operation of Suvarnabhumi International Airport by this following:
The UNWTO Review Meeting on the Integration of Tourism and Emergency Management (Mount Macedon, Australia, 22-23 September) gathered major tourism players to present examples of best practice and share ongoing challenges ahead of an upcoming report on effective crisis handling.
In a collaborative commitment to improving the handling of emergencies, representatives of all key segments of the tourism sector, including airlines, travel insurers and tourism operators, joined with emergency management experts, such as volunteer rescue organizations and government policy planners. The Review Meeting, organized in collaboration with the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism of Australia, the Australian Emergency Management Institute, the University of Technology of Sydney and Bournemouth University, also counted on the support of the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Dr. Dirk Glaesser, Coordinator of the UNWTO Risk and Crisis Management Programme, welcomed the increasing trend for integration to be gradually filtering into government policy making, but recognized an inconsistency across destinations. Particularly in developing countries with a high level of economic dependency on tourism, it is important to establish proper mechanisms preventing and mitigating the impacts of negative events. Indicating a globally coordinated approach to risk and crisis management, the UNWTO Tourism Emergency Response Network (TERN) initiative contributes to sustainability and coordination at the global level, encouraging cross-sectoral collaboration in identifying and responding to major risks, hazards and crises worldwide.
Speakers shared valuable experiences of emergency response, such as this year’s incidents in Japan, floods and bushfires in Australia and developments in the Middle East and North Africa. Case studies addressed challenges such as the repatriation of travelers, the dissemination of important security information and victim, consumer and media relations. A recurring difficulty recognized was overcoming negative safety perceptions with concrete facts about specific crisis-affected areas.
The meeting served as a valuable face-to-face knowledge exchange and review of the current UNWTO study aimed to facilitate optimal coordination between the tourism sector and emergency management agencies from the government and private sectors. The study recommends considering tourism as an integral element of risk, crisis and recovery planning. Preliminary findings reveal that despite a high level of aspiration for an integrative approach to risk and crisis management, countries still demonstrate limited implementation.
Relevant links:
Review Meeting on the Integration of Tourism and Emergency Management
UNWTO Risk and Crisis Management Programme
Tourism Emergency Response Network (TERN)
Contacts:
Principal Media Officer: Marcelo Risi
Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60
UNWTO Communications Programme
Tel: +34 91-567-8100
Fax: +34 91-567-8218
PR No.: PR 11078
Meeting with Japan´s Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, has called for continued international support of the country’s tourism sector (4-6 October 2011, Japan).
“In the process of revitalizing Japan, tourism plays an important and indispensible role,” said the Japanese Prime Minister during his meeting with Mr Rifai.
Joined by David Scowsill, President and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Mr. Rifai assured the Prime Minister that the two organizations would continue to transmit the message that Japan is back and stands ready to receive visitors. “Tourists face no difficulties in accommodation, transportation or any other part of their travel,” said Mr Rifai. He further stressed that this message would be conveyed at the forthcoming UNWTO General Assembly (8-14 October, Gyeongju, Korea).
“It is vital that we continue to work together to share accurate information on Japan’s recovery, provide support to those areas most affected and pass on the message that the situation has returned to normalcy in most of the areas which suffered the impact of the March earthquake,” he added.
Emphasising the importance of the sector to the Prime Minister, Mr Scowsill said, “Travel and Tourism accounts for 9 per cent of GDP globally and 7 per cent of GDP in Japan. The industry is working hard to drive the recovery process and we anticipate that business will return to normal levels in 2012”.
Following the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011, both inbound and outbound travel suffered significantly. Nevertheless, the decline in international tourism to Japan has been clearly reversing in recent months, while outbound travel returned to growth in July (departures from Japan registered a 5% increase in July and 9% growth in August compared to the same months in 2010).
During his visit, Mr. Rifai visited tsunami affected areas to observe the current state of recovery, including Sendai, the nearest major city to the earthquake, where he met with government officials, to share information and exchange views on revitalizing tourism in the Tohoku region.
In Sendai, Mr. Rifai attended the Special International Symposium on the Revitalization of Japan´s Tourism Sector and Quake Affected Regions. The Symposium, jointly organized by UNWTO, Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, was held to aid the recovery and revitalization of tourism in the country, with debates on best practices from other earthquake affected regions, the state of tourism recovery, and lessons learned from the earthquake and tsunami. Participants recognized that the lessons learned from the Japan earthquake provide extremely valuable knowledge for other countries.
Participants, including UNWTO officials, Japanese Government representatives and the President and CEO of WTTC, issued a special message concluding that, “it is crucial to restore and increase the number of visitors to Japan, and to work toward further growth of international tourism in the Asia-Pacific region”.
During their stay in Tokyo, the two heads of the world´s leading tourism organizations also met with the Minister of Infrastructure, Land and Tourism (MILT) and other senior government officials who expressed Japan´s gratitude to UNWTO and WTTC for the great support extended to Japan following the 11 March 2011 disaster.
Relevant links:
UNWTO Special Resolution on Japan
Contacts:
Principal Media Officer: Marcelo Risi
Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60
UNWTO Communications Programme
Tel: +34 91-567-8100
Fax: +34 91-567-8218
The Regional Program for Asia and the Pacific of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) embarks upon a research on domestic tourism which is becoming one of the priority areas in its program of work, and the research will consequently result in a UNWTO publication. The research will focus on the factors of the resilience of domestic tourism that affect international market, as well as the socio-economic impact to national development agenda.
The main objective of the study is to provide a real picture of domestic tourism and its significant role in the sector’s resilience, especially in times of crisis by sustaining services and jobs, offsetting the loss of inbound tourism and reducing disparity amongst regions’ development. Consequently, it will enhance the related stakeholders’ awareness of domestic tourism as a crucial contributor to the socio-economic development of the country.
The study will serve as practical guidelines for a more holistic and sustainable development of domestic tourism in Asia and the Pacific region. In addition, the best practice cases in terms of policies, strategies and product development by national and regional governments, as well as public and private organizations will be highlighted.
Therefore, we invite all interested parties to submit an expression of interest by 31st of October, 2011 at the latest* to asiastudy@unwto.org. Contributions are welcome from, but not limited to, academics, public institutions (governmental, public-private partnerships), non-profit institutions (NGOs, civil society, etc.) and any other stakeholders interested in the topic. The selected contributors will be acknowledged and the source of information will be attached as annexes to the final report of the study according to the UNWTO Publication Guidelines.
Regional Programme for Asia and the Pacific
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
Calle Poeta Joan Maragall 42
28020 Madrid, Spain
For further information, or to send an expression of interest, please contact:
Ms. Hyeon Jin Lee
Email: asiastudy@unwto.org
_____________________________________________________________________________________
* Once the expression of interest is received, contributors will be contacted for further information.
PR No.: PR11069
“The Chinese Government is increasingly conscious of the role that tourism plays in socio-economic development and will double its efforts in tourism,” said Chinese Vice-Premier, Wang Qishan, on joining the UNWTO/WTTC Global Leaders for Tourism Campaign (Beijing, China, 1 September 2011).
On behalf of the Chinese Government, Mr. Wang accepted an Open Letter stressing the importance of Travel and Tourism to global growth and development presented by UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai and WTTC Vice Chairman, Jean Claude Baumgarten.
Mr. Wang highlighted the links between tourism and international and national economic development, as well as understanding and stability worldwide, and committed China to “take an active part in the UNWTO/WTTC initiative to promote tourism around the world”.
“In 2009, China declared tourism a strategic pillar of its national economy and policy,” said Mr. Rifai. “Now in 2011, the country is once again demonstrating its commitment to put tourism at the center of economic growth and development. We are delighted that China, one of the world’s fastest growing economies and a leader in the tourism sector, has joined this campaign”.
David Scowsill, President & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) said: “China’s commitment to tourism was underlined this year with the declaration of the National Tourism Day of China. Signing the Open Letter reiterates this long term commitment, and demonstrates China’s leadership role in the Travel & Tourism industry. WTTC has long noted the significant enthusiasm and support that the Chinese authorities provide to tourism. The government truly understands the impact on job creation and the positive economic impact that Travel & Tourism brings to global GDP”.
China received 56 million international tourists in 2010 generating US$ 46 billion in international tourism receipts. China is also the world’s third biggest source markets, with Chinese outbound tourists spending around US$ 55 billion in 2010.
Note to Editors:
Through the Global Leaders for Tourism Campaign, UNWTO and WTTC are jointly presenting heads of state and government around the world an Open Letter which calls on them to acknowledge tourism’s key role in delivering more sustained and balanced growth and to prioritize the sector high in national policies in order to maximize its potential. The Open Letter outlines Travel & Tourism’s value as one of the world’s largest generators of jobs, a powerful driver of socio-economic growth and development and a key player in the transformation to the Green Economy.
Relevant links:
Open Letter to Heads of State and Government
Further Information on the Joint Campaign
Media contacts:
UNWTO Principal Media Officer: Marcelo Risi
Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60
WTTC Communications Executive: Anja Eckervogt
Tel: (+44) 20 7481 6484
UNWTO is calling for contributions for a study on Climate Change Initiatives in the tourism sector across Asia and the Pacific.
The objective of the study is to highlight various positive initiatives emerging in the region, whilst also providing a valuable resource that will increase awareness of climate change as it impacts upon tourism in Asia and the Pacific. This report will be the first UNWTO publication to focus on policies and initiatives which have been implemented on all levels of the tourism sector across Asia and the Pacific.
At the second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, held in 2007 in Davos, Switzerland, climate change was recognised as one of the greatest challenges to sustainable development in tourism. Global changes in weather patterns will have a direct impact in the foreseeable future on a variety of tourist attractions, and thus, on tourist related businesses. For this reason, the tourism industry is faced with a unique and complex challenge – to not only mitigate its contribution to climate change, but to also develop adaptive strategies to cope with global effects which are predicted to occur as a result of climate change.
The study, entitled “Responding to Climate Change – an Examination of Tourism Initiatives across Asia and the Pacific”, will provide a catalogue of key climate-related policies and initiatives being implemented for, or impacting on, tourism across the region. The study will include policies and best-practice initiatives by national and regional governments, public and private organizations and tourism operators across the region, demonstrating action taken to adapt to, or mitigate the effects of climate change. It will also feature a background assessment of the impacts of climate change across Asia and the Pacific.
We therefore encourage all parties who are interested in appearing in the study to submit an expression of interest to asia@unwto.org. Contributions are welcome from, but not limited to, academics, government representatives, tourism practitioners, and any other stakeholders interested in the topic. Nominations of hospitality and tourism enterprises which address issues of climate change, such as reducing carbon emissions, are also encouraged.
For further information, or to send an expression of interest, please contact:
Nicole Cocolas
Regional Programme for Asia and the Pacific
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
Telephone: +34 91 567 93 15
Email: asia@unwto.org
* Once the expression of interest is received, contributors will be contacted for further information.
