The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), together with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia and the World Cities Scientific Development Alliance (WCSDA), organized the International Silk Road Conference on Nomadic Tourism and Sustainable Cities in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on 13-15 October 2016.

The conference gathered Ministers and high-level officials from nine UNWTO Silk Road Member States, official representatives from Silk Road regions, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and UNWTO Affiliate Members to address the potential of nomadic and sustainable city tourism. The event, officially opened by the Chairman of the State Great Hural of Mongolia, Mr. Enkhbold Miyegombo, attracted over 350 delegates from 21 countries.

The Silk Road has become one of the most visited international travel routes. Despite such growth, an increase in visitation also brings challenges, such as the protection of the environment and the maintenance of necessary heritage standards. Bearing in mind the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and the upcoming International Year for Sustainable Development for Tourism 2017, participants discussed  these challenges and the large potential  of developing  nomadic tourism trails and products.

“The sustainable growth of nomadic tourism requires a balance between tourism promotion, heritage management and respect for local communities. It requires the collective engagement and cooperation of Silk Road destinations, the private sector and the civil society. With these ingredients in place, we can produce responsible nomadic tourism products to diversify Silk Road tourism and achieve the adequate tourism development for the countries involved.” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai in opening the conference.

“Today we welcome, with our uttermost respect and pride, all delegates to the International Silk Road Conference on Nomadic Tourism and Sustainable Cities. We believe that the great and historic Silk Road will be revived as an exciting route full of travelers and adventurers, hereby becoming a symbol for mutual understanding and peace among nations in the new millennium.” said the Minister of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia, Ms. Oyunkhorol Dulamsuren during the opening ceremony.

The Silk Road countries agreed that, while the Silk Road presents extensive opportunities, long-term success will depend upon increased collaboration in the three key areas identified in the Silk Road Action Plan: marketing and promotion, capacity building and destination management, and travel facilitation. UNWTO would like to thank Turkish Airlines for supporting this event.

One in ten of all tourism investment dollars will go into ASEAN countries over the next ten years, according to new research by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

According to the research, ?Travel & Tourism Investment in ASEAN?, over the years 2016 ? 2026, 9.7% (nearly 1 in 10 dollars) of global investment in Travel & Tourism will be in ASEAN.

Travel & Tourism investment in ASEAN over the next decade will total US$782 billion, which is 7.4% of all investment in the region. This represents growth of 6.3% per year, nearly 2 percentage points faster than the global average.

Investment spending will be dominated (95%) by five major destinations – Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia – which together account for over 80% of ASEAN?s international arrivals and tourism contribution to GDP.

However given the strong demand for travel to this region, some countries are still at risk of not investing enough to ensure infrastructure meets the needs of forecast tourism growth.

The report highlights the investment needed in ASEAN in order to support the region?s forecast Travel & Tourism growth over the next decade.

ASEAN is one of the world?s most tourism dependent regions. Travel & Tourism contributes 12.4% of GDP, nearly 4% above most other world regions. However, according to the report, ASEAN Travel & Tourism infrastructure currently only ranks ahead of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.

As such the outlook across the ten constituent countries of ASEAN is mixed:

• Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines are classified as infrastructure constrained. Forecast investment is not deemed to be sufficient to ensure that poor existing infrastructure can be improved to meet the needs of future Travel & Tourism demand and to maintain competitiveness.
• Vietnam and Laos are identified as having ?improving infrastructure and growth prospects? although future investment will need to be channelled effectively and targeted at priority areas.
• Thailand is the only country classified as ?future focus critical? where relatively strong existing T&T infrastructure and future demand growth need to be supported by a continued investment focus.
• Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam are expected to balance future infrastructure investment needs with forecast demand growth.
• Singapore and Indonesia are classified as ?having high levels of infrastructure spending and forecast growth that should allow them to sustain projected levels of demand.

David Scowsill, President & CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council, said: ?Our research shows that investment in infrastructure is critical to the future sustainability of Travel & Tourism. As one of the fastest growing tourism markets, public and private sector leaders across ASEAN must prioritise tourism investment and channel it effectively to ensure the region?s infrastructure can meet this increasing demand.

Countries such as Singapore and Indonesia are leading the way in terms of their infrastructure development but across ASEAN there is much more which is required. For some countries this might mean expanding capacity, through increasing visitor accommodation, airport capacity and tourist facilities while others need to maintain and enhance their current infrastructure.?

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt are organizing the 5th Global Summit on City Tourism: “Cities: Local Culture for Global Travellers” on 1-2 November 2016 in Luxor. During the summit, UNWTO will launch the Mayors for Tourism Initiative.

Tourism has become a central component of the economy, social life and geography of many cities in the world and is ideally positioned to seize the opportunities provided by urbanization. Yet many challenges are emerging, including the need to effectively manage the growth of tourism in many cities around the globe.

The 5th Global Summit on City Tourism: “Cities: Local Culture for Global Travellers” will discuss city tourism trends and debate themes such as sustainable development, spatial organization and rejuvenation, innovation in city tourism, cross-cultural behaviour, and new business models or the so‑called ‘sharing economy’.

The development of clusters that engage public and private players from all sectors is central to the new paradigm of city tourism development, in which tourism needs to be a tool for social cohesion and cultural preservation, beyond its fundamental contribution to economic activity.

As part of the action plan of the UNWTO City Tourism Network, UNWTO will launch a new initiative gauged to gather mayors and decision makers in cities around tourism issues. The Mayors for Tourism Initiative aims to promote the important role of tourism as a driving force for socio‑economic development in cities, and place the sector as a priority in the urban agenda.

Mayors of world cities have been invited to share best practices in managing the challenges and opportunities that tourism presents to local administrations and to propose formulas to align their tourism‑related policies with those of national governments.

The Summit will be preceded by the 104^th Session of the UNWTO Executive Council, taking place in Luxor on 30 October-1 November 2016.

UNWTO is deeply saddened by the tragic effects brought by hurricane Matthew to a number of destinations in the Caribbean.

“On behalf of the international tourism community, UNWTO conveys in particular its heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims in Haiti, The Bahamas and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where Hurricane Mathew, described as the most powerful storm to hit the Caribbean in a decade, has taken the lives of so many innocent people” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

Other countries in the Caribbean – Cuba, Dominica, Jamaica and Saint Lucia – have also been impacted by the storm suffering some level damage.

 “UNWTO will work alongside the affected countries in all the necessary measures to support them and trust that as in previous occasion the people of these countries will show their resilience as life gets back to normal and they open for business” added Mr Rifai.

The Minister of Tourism of Jamaica, and Chairman of the Board of the UNWTO Affiliate Members, Edmund Bartlett, has manifested also his solidarity with the affected neighbouring countries and offered his support.

The Ambassador of Greece, Christodoulos J. Lazaris, has presented his credentials to the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Taleb Rifai, accrediting him as Permanent Representative of his country to UNWTO. UNWTO is the United Nations specialized agency for tourism and is based in Madrid, Spain.

During the meeting, Rifai expressed to Ambassador Lazaris the Organization’s determination and commitment to continue strengthening its close relationship with Greece.

The prospects for tourism in Greece are positive as economic recovery continues and new air routes open from emerging source markets, particularly Russia and China, as well as from traditional source markets. Greece has shown sustained growth in international tourism in recent years with almost 24 million international tourist arrivals in 2015, a 7% increase compared to the previous year, generating nearly 16 billion US dollars in receipts.

Greece has been a Member State of the UNWTO since 1975.