World Tourism Day (WTD) is commemorated each year on 27 September. Its purpose is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value. The event seeks to address global challenges outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and to highlight the contribution the tourism industry can make in reaching these goals.
Every year, UNWTO invites all interested parties to take part on 27 September each year in the special celebrations taking place in their respective country or holiday destination.
World Tourism Day is celebrated with appropriate events on themes selected by the UNWTO General Assembly, on the recommendation of the UNWTO Executive Council.
The UNWTO Secretary-General issues a message each year to mark the occasion and chairs the official celebrations.
It was at its third session (Torremolinos, Spain, September 1979), that the UNWTO General Assembly decided to institute World Tourism Day, commencing in the year 1980. This date was chosen to coincide with an important milestone in world tourism: the anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes on 27 September 1970.
The timing of World Tourism Day is particularly appropriate in that it comes at the end of the high season in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of the season in the southern hemisphere, when tourism is of topical interest to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
World Tourism Day 2012:
Tourism businesses and destinations are committed to the sustainable energy agenda but need the support of the energy sector and governments to move forward, said leading experts from the aviation, accommodation and other tourism industries meeting in Spain for the official celebrations of World Tourism Day 2012 (Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain, 27 September 2012).
Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Spain opened the celebrations, commending the tourism community for choosing Tourism & Sustainable Energy as the theme of World Tourism Day (WTD) 2012, in line with the United Nations International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.
“This theme brings to the table one of the most pressing challenges facing the world today,” said Prince Felipe. “We cannot guarantee the future of important sectors such as tourism if we don’t protect the environment in which they take place.”
This message was echoed by the Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism of Spain, José Manuel Soria, who spoke of the importance of ensuring tourism’s sustained growth, “one of the world’s largest employers”, while committing to sustainability.
UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, pointed to the many sustainable energy initiatives already in place in the tourism sector, “from the world’s airline giants using biofuels in commercial flights, to small hotels placing insulating plants on their roofs to keep hotels cool in summer and warm in winter,” but cautioned that with one billion tourists estimated to travel the world in 2012 alone, “more can and must be done.”
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