Chinese leader harps on higher financing for tourism development

The role of tourism in fighting poverty and building peace was the key focus of the first World Conference on Tourism for Development held recently.

Delivering the keynote ad­dress to declare the conference open, Premier Li Keqiang of China underlined the role of tourism in lifting people out of poverty and the importance of stepping up international co­operation in tourism.

The event, organized by UNWTO and the govern­ment of the People’s Repub­lic of China, gathered about 1,000 participants from over 100 countries in Beijing, Chi­na.

Premier Li Keqiang, who emphasized tourism’s capacity to stimulate economic growth, create jobs and foster inclusive development, said: “The global economy is lacking in growing momentum and needs a new driving force. As one of the fast­est-growing and most resilient industrial sectors, tourism plays an important role in boosting world economic recovery.”

At the same occasion, per­haps as a way of stating its read­iness to put its money where her mouth is, China announced the launch of an international tour­ism cooperation plan that is ex­pected to further accelerate tourism development across the world.

Also addressing the confer­ence, President of Mozambique, Filipe Jacinto Nyussi, stated that inclusion through tourism re­quires adequate investment in education as well as capaci­ty building. In the same man­ner, the link between develop­ment and peace was underlined by UNWTO Secretary-Gener­al, Taleb Rifai, who said: “There can be no development without peace and no peace without de­velopment.”

In a message, the UN Sec­retary-General, Ban Ki-moon said: “When tourism is well-managed, it has tremendous ca­pacity to create decent jobs, pro­vide opportunities for inclusion and education, and contribute to preserving cultural herit­age and the environment.” The message was delivered on his behalf by the UN Under-Secre­tary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo.

The conference included three main panel sessions ded­icated to the contribution of tourism to the Sustainable De­velopment Goals (SDGs), to poverty alleviation and to peace.

During the summit session, moderated by CNN’s Richard Quest, participants called for an integrated approach to tour­ism development that can con­tribute effectively to the SDGs. Issues discussed included effec­tive resource management, the role of the private sector and the need for the SDGs to be under­stood by all - citizens, policy makers, and the business com­munity.