The role of tourism in fighting poverty and building peace were the key focus of the First World Conference on Tourism for Development. Opening the conference, Premier Li Keqiang 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 in Beijing 1000 participants from over 100 countries.

Premier Li Keqiang emphasized tourism's capacity to stimulate economic growth, create jobs and foster inclusive development. "As we look for new drivers of growth, tourism has a very important role to play not only for its direct impact but also for the value it adds to other sectors," he said. During the occasion, China announced the launch of an international tourism cooperation plan.

Addressing the conference the President of Mozambique, Filipe Jacinto Nyussi, emphasized that inclusion through tourism requires investment in education and capacity building.

The links between development and peace were stressed by UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, who said: "There can be no development without peace and no peace without development".

In a message delivered to the conference by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr Wu Hongbo, United Nations 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 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.

Participants in the session on tourism and poverty underlined that there is a lack of understanding and research on the impact of the sector on poverty levels. They called for better monitoring, measuring and communication through both solid indicators and people-centered stories.

The third session of the conference, dedicated to tourism and peace, stressed how people-to-people diplomacy is inherent to tourism while calling for investment in education and youth to build more stable societies.

The full list of speakers included: the Vice-Presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mauritius and Vanuatu, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo, representing the UN Secretary-General, ministers and high-level tourism officials from Argentina, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Germany, Georgia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Lithuania, Malta, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, UK, USA, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe, and SDG Advocate Ambassador Dho Young-Shim, as well as representatives of the World Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JAICA), the World Tourism Cities Federation, the Petra National Trust Fund, the Beijing Municipality, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Guizhou Province.

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About UN Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Our Priorities

Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.

Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.

Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.

Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.

Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.

Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.

Our Structure

Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.

Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.

Rut Gómez Sobrino
Principal Media Officer
(+34) 91 567 81 60
UN Tourism