27th September is the World Tourism day Tourism as an instrument for peace
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Ranjan K Baruah
We learn real life experiences when we travel and meet new people. Textbooks and school and college education provide us with information and ideas but real life experiences and learning are always thrilling and joyful. People who travel to different places become confident and determined. This shows the importance of travel and tourism in our life . There is no doubt that tourism is one of the world’s most important economic sectors. It employs one in every ten people on Earth and provides livelihoods to hundreds of millions more. For some countries, it can represent over 20 percent of their GDP.
Tourism provides us an opportunity to experience some of the world’s cultural and natural riches and brings us closer to each other, highlighting our common humanity. It is an essential stake of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the obligation to our Sustainable Development Goals( SDGs), especially goals 8, 12, and 14. It serves as a first entry point to the world of work, especially for women, youth, migrant workers, and rural populations in developing and least developed countries (LDCs). Women represent a majority of the tourism sector workforce, while half of that workforce is less than 25 years of age.
In spite of having challenges during Covid 19 , the constant growth of the tourism sector during the last six decades reflects more progressive access to tourism thanks to the decline in the cost of transport and the world-wide growth of the middle classes. The sector has experienced almost uninterrupted growth despite challenges such as the global economic crisis and natural disasters.
The many important contributions of tourism encouraged the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to institute World Tourism Day ( WTD) in a meeting that took place in Spain, commencing the first celebration of the observance in the year 1980. This date was chosen to coincide with an important milestone in world tourism: the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes on 27 September 1970. UNWTO is known as UN Tourism as it has changed the name.
(To be contd)
We learn real life experiences when we travel and meet new people. Textbooks and school and college education provide us with information and ideas but real life experiences and learning are always thrilling and joyful. People who travel to different places become confident and determined. This shows the importance of travel and tourism in our life . There is no doubt that tourism is one of the world’s most important economic sectors. It employs one in every ten people on Earth and provides livelihoods to hundreds of millions more. For some countries, it can represent over 20 percent of their GDP.
Tourism provides us an opportunity to experience some of the world’s cultural and natural riches and brings us closer to each other, highlighting our common humanity. It is an essential stake of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the obligation to our Sustainable Development Goals( SDGs), especially goals 8, 12, and 14. It serves as a first entry point to the world of work, especially for women, youth, migrant workers, and rural populations in developing and least developed countries (LDCs). Women represent a majority of the tourism sector workforce, while half of that workforce is less than 25 years of age.
In spite of having challenges during Covid 19 , the constant growth of the tourism sector during the last six decades reflects more progressive access to tourism thanks to the decline in the cost of transport and the world-wide growth of the middle classes. The sector has experienced almost uninterrupted growth despite challenges such as the global economic crisis and natural disasters.
The many important contributions of tourism encouraged the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to institute World Tourism Day ( WTD) in a meeting that took place in Spain, commencing the first celebration of the observance in the year 1980. This date was chosen to coincide with an important milestone in world tourism: the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes on 27 September 1970. UNWTO is known as UN Tourism as it has changed the name.
(To be contd)