Workshop on Sustainable Tourism: Policies for Delivering Social, Environmental and Economic Benefits in Asia and the Pacific Region 24-27 May 2016 (Jeju, Republic of Korea)
1. Background
Taleb Rifai, the UNWTO Secretary-General has clarified that “tourism is a surprisingly strong and resilient economic activity as well as a fundamental contributor to the economic activity” in his opening speech at Spain Global Tourism Forum １ . Certainly, tourism has shown a dynamic increase in the international tourist arrivals recording 1,130 million in 2014, occupying 9% of global GDP, and creating one in every 11 jobs worldwide２. Particularly, Asia and the Pacific region showed the strongest growth in tourism population, welcoming 263million international tourists in 2014. By sub-region, the North-East and South Asia recorded a firm growth by 7% average. Further, some of the major popular destinations achieved even higher increases suggested as follows; Japan (+29%), Taiwan (pr. Of China)(+24%), and Republic of Korea in North-East Asia and India (+11%), and Sri Lanka (+20%) in South Asia３. As the tourism has gained more popularity and importance, with many projects being implemented around the world, it attracted people’s attention to the questions of how to develop tourism policies. That is, people have witnessed reckless development is manifested in some negative consequences and problems. Ecological degradation and loss of cultural heritage are one side of the adverse effects. Not only the environmental changes but the issues of social engagement, and respect amongst diverse groups of people are the challenges that we face with. For a long-term outlook, people have an untold consent that these could be the latent risk factors that threaten even the merit of the current tourism development, economically. In this sense, tourism has become internationally and officially recognized within the UN dialogue like the UN Commission on sustainable Development (1999) for the question of ‘quality tourism’ rather than its ‘quantifiable volume’. The dominant agenda on tourism development has moved its focus from ‘how much developed’ to ‘how well developed’, which called for the need of sustainable development. Finally, sustainable tourism has been clearly adopted in the final draft of the Post-2015 Development Agenda which pursues a will of sustainable development in tourism. In this regards, the workshop will raise awareness on UN initiatives for sustainable tourism. It also includes a solid grasp of its principles, strategies, challenges & opportunities and financial cooperation by looking at some case studies such as a community-based policy development method. Through the live voices of international/ national/ local experts, the participants will have a chance to develop the relevant policies to promote their natural and cultural heritage site for social, environmental and economic benefits.
１[Online]
Available at http://media.unwto.org/press-release/2015-01-27/over-11-billion-tourists-travelled-abroad-2014
２[Online]
Available at http://www.wttc.org/-/media/upload/gs15/gtac%20document%20final.pdf
３[Online]
Available at http://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284416899