Over 400 participants from 26 countries gathered in the city of Nara, Japan, to discuss the impact that new technologies are having on the tourism sector and how these can help the sector to further develop at the UNWTO International Conference on Tourism and Technology. It was conducted within the framework of the 28^th Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia from 1-4 June 2016.

The 28^th Joint Commission’s meeting discussed UNWTO’s Programme of Work for Asia and the Pacific, the link between tourism and security, and the ethical approach of the sector. The Conference was the first of its kind organized by UNWTO to highlight the linkage between new technology and tourism in the Asia-Pacific region in order to examine the current emerging technologies that are of primary relevance to the tourism sector. 

As summarised by Akihiko Tamura, Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan at the Opening: “Our work embraces not only tourism, but also transportation and infrastructure policies that require the latest advanced technologies. Finding out how to raise travelers’ satisfaction levels through various experiences and activities during their travels is a challenging but crucial task for us.”

To this, the UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai added that “Two major revolutions have marked the last decades: the travel revolution, which has positioned tourism as a fundamental element of our lives, and the boom of new technologies that have changed the game for many sectors including tourism. In both revolutions, nations from Asia and the Pacific have emerged as leaders.”

As estimated by UNWTO, 2030 will witness 1.8 billion international tourists travelling around the world. Of those, 535 million international travelers will visit Asia and the Pacific – a figure which almost doubles the current number of inbound travel to the region. In this framework of continuous growth, innovations brought to the tourism field by technological advances were identified during the Conference as opportunities to enhance the sector.

In this regard, UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai underlined that the priority areas of the Organization such as making travel safer and more seamless through processes such as the e-visa, improving the quality and competitiveness of destinations and businesses, can be materialized in a better manner through innovation and technology.

Additional topics such as the use of ICTs within the tourism sector, consumer trends and new business models were also debated in the sessions. Mario Hardy, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), highlighted the new innovations that are changing the travel industry including crowdsourcing, the sharing economy, 3D printing and wearables, among others.

On the future impact of new technologies in the tourism sector, Yuri Furusawa, Vice-Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, mentioned that “Technological progress is enabling people to travel more easily, and we now live in an era in which, each year, 1.2 billion people enjoy overseas trips. Travel encourages direct human and cultural exchange, creating a basis for people to learn more about the importance of each other’s cultures and lives, and to live in harmony. Technology has made an immeasurable contribution to such developments.”

With this Open Consultation Meeting, UNWTO sought to engage, share and discuss views, experiences and opportunities in measuring, monitoring and assessing tourism impacts at the destination level in preparation of the 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and to advance the agenda of sustainable and resilient tourism development.

Opening with a dynamic keynote by Executive Director Dr. Marcio Favilla who focused on new initiatives utilizing new means of data collection and analyses. Dr. Xu Honggang led the “Experiences from the Observatories” session sharing the wealth of experience which the team from Sun Yat-Sen University in China collected when they developed the first and to this day largest network of tourism observatories with UNWTO.

Other speakers included Rosa Ruvalcaba Benitez and Claudia Betancourt, associated with Guanajuato Tourism Observatory which has had great success in involving local stakeholders including 25 local organizations in the data gathering processes.

Michael Dodds, who directs the Regional Tourism Committee of Brittany France – an area which has done a brilliant job of attaining strong brand recognition discussed exploiting their niche markets such as sailing and cycling, both of which are notably limited carbon activities.

Roger Lang CEO of Predicta Cognitive Commerce Cloud beamed in to discuss how Silicon Valley ingenuity and UNWTO can accelerate the growth of sustainable travel.

The Symposium segued into discussions of the progress on indicators and measurement… initiatives and instruments, presentations on embracing big data, monitoring visitor satisfaction for effective destination strategies, analyzing mobile device info, each point presented by thought leaders from companies such as Amadeus and ReviewPro.

The conference concluded June 8 with an analysis of three aspects of Sustainable Travel: the Economic dimension, the Socio/Cultural dimension (an area several of the new Observatories being developed are planning to focus on including the recently formed Coalition to Observe and Advance Sustainable Tourism in Sonoma, California) and the Environmental aspect chaired by Dr. Ted Manning president of Tourisk,inc who brought a breadth of experience from his background consulting in destinations worldwide.

The host of the conference, Dr. Dirk Glaesser, director of the Sustainable Development Programme, closed saying that the goal is to “make Observatories around the world an absolutely normal thing”.

PAMELA LANIER

The increasing relevance of religious and cultural tourism and the opportunities it offers to link the countries in the Mediterranean was the focus of a series of events on ‘Connecting People and Cultures through Tourism in the Mediterranean region.’ The events held in Maghdouche and Beirut, were organized by UNWTO and the Ministry of Tourism of Lebanon. 

The first event – a round table on religious tourism, with the participation of CNN’s John Defterious – explored the challenges and opportunities for the development of religious tourism routes in the Levant as well as cross-country pilgrimages and networks of religious tourism destinations as effective means to foster regional development and integration, cross-cultural exchanges, understanding and self-education and learning.

“Never before have so many people visited so many places and seen so many diverse cultures, traditions and faiths. Religious tourism can in fact be one of the most effective tools to foster mutual understanding and sustainable development” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai opening the roundtable.  

The meeting, held in Maghdouche, was followed by a ceremony organized by the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism marking the launch of ‘our Lady of Mantara’ as a destination for international religious tourism.

The second day was dedicated to the meeting of the Working Group of the Phoenicians´ Route Cultural Tourism Programme.

Michel Pharaon, Minister of Tourism of Lebanon, said “the Phoenician Route has cultural, humanitarian and tourism benefits, for Lebanon and 17 other Mediterranean and European Union countries while fitting UNWTO’s objectives, which has adopted this vital regional project.”

“The Phoenician route is widely recognized not only as a historical cultural and trade-based itinerary, but also as an initiative to interconnect all the diverse backgrounds existing in the region since ancient times. We are upon an unprecedented occasion to revive the identity of the Mediterranean and its tourism sector so that all societies in the region can capitalize the immense opportunities that it brings to 18 participating countries and tourism destinations across more than 2800 kilometers in terms of economic development and job creation,” said Mr. Rifai.

The events counted with the participation of the Ministries of Tourism of Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt and international organizations such as UNESCO and ASCAME. The Council of Europe was represented by Stefano Dominioni, Director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes (EICR) and Executive Secretary of the Enlarged Partial Agreement (EPA) on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe who expressed the full cooperation of the Council to the development of the Phoenicians´ Route as a cultural tourism programme.  

The meeting concluded with the four key areas of focus as next steps: 1) the development of itineraries, 2) involving local communities, 3) joint marketing and promotion, and 4) travel facilitation.

The Phoenicians´ Route Cultural Tourism Programme provides a valuable opportunity to build upon the existing cultural route and facilitate the development of a strategic plan for tourism itineraries, engaging stakeholders in the region and encouraging the alignment of resources and funds for tourism product development, capital projects, visitor experiences, marketing and promotion.

Much coverage has been given to the US State Department’s issuing of a travel alert for Europe on May 31st.

In it they point out that Europe hosts “major events”, has “tourist sites”, sustains “restaurants”, has “commercial centers” and that there is also transportation. In particular, they note that two large events are occurring (the European Football Championship in France and the World Youth Day in Poland); and that both these events will cause disruption, some of which will be security related.

“The large number of tourists visiting Europe in the summer months” they caution “will present greater targets for terrorists planning attacks in public locations, especially at large events.”

John Kirby of the State Department explained “We took the opportunity, because it’s the beginning of summer, to make our concerns known.”

“I’m not aware of any specific, credible terrorist event around these events or in any particular place in Europe. This was issued … based on an accumulation of information,” he said.

There are several things to note about this release. Firstly, that it is an “Alert”, not a “Warning”. The latter are recommendations not to travel: what we have here is a general airing of unfocussed concern.

Secondly it is effectively a re-issue of the alert that was issued on March 31st after the Brussels attacks. Its recommendations (“Exercise vigilance..avoid crowded places…stay in touch with your family etc”) are the same.

There is no change in status: Europe was the subject of a Travel Alert last month.

Thirdly it recognises that countermeasures are in place, albeit with an alarmist twist: “European authorities continue to take steps to assure public safety and disrupt terrorist plots”.

“What is missing here is any recognition of comparative safety,” said Tom Jenkins of ETOA. “Eighteen of the top twenty safest countries in the OECD list are European¹. The homicide rate in Germany is 0.5, France is 0.6 and the UK is 0.2; in the United States it stands at 5.2. Even if the State Department were to switch its gaze from violent death to traffic accidents, it would see that the US is behind on that score too . Europe is manifestly the safest region on earth.”

“It is always puzzling as to the purpose of these announcements. Such assertions would normally require a strong imagination. The declaration that high season tourists “present greater targets for terrorists” is seems purposefully irksome. This identifies a victim group, on the basis of no specific or credible information. Among the 500 million people who live in Europe, it is the tourists who have been picked out as being subjects of terrorism “because it’s the beginning of summer”.

“It has long been recognised that terrorism is a message system, and how we work to counter the mental threat of terrorism is a vital part of the counter-terrorism strategy. The announcements from the State Department seem to be doing the terrorists work for them.”

NAIROBI, Kenya, 27 May 2016 / PRN Africa / — The world’s environment ministers, gathered at the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) in Nairobi on late Friday, passed far reaching decisions on issues such as marine litter, the illegal trade in wildlife, air pollution, chemicals and waste, and sustainable consumption and production – which are an integral part of the global action needed to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said, “The environment has always been, and will always be, at the heart of humanity’s prosperity. World nations recognized this in 2015 with global accords, such as the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

“What we have seen in the last five days is the same political will and passion for change that brought about the groundbreaking international agreements of 2015. With global consensus affirmed, we are taking steps to bring about a real transformation of our development models. The United Nations Environment Assembly is providing leadership and guidance the world needs to take these unprecedented steps.

“In the decisions made here at this assembly for the environment, we see a significant directional shift that will inform Ministers’ decisions in their home countries. We will now need to see the bold and decisive commitment observed at UNEA transmitted at the national level to drive forward the 2030 Agenda and ensure a brighter future for people and planet.”

Thousands of delegates from 174 countries, 120 at the ministerial level, took part in UNEA-2 and associated side events on issues of global importance, including the Sustainable Innovation Expo and the Science-Policy Forum.

UNEA-2 sessions were attended by UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson; the President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta; UN Habitat Executive Director Joan Clos; and Vice-President of Iran and Minister of Environment Masoumeh Ebtekar. The sessions were presided over by Costa Rica’s Minister of Environment Edgar Gutiérrez, who took over from Oyun Sanjaasuren, former Minister of Environment and Green Development for Mongolia.

Among the 25 resolutions and actions decided at UNEA-2, the theme of which was “Delivering on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, the following themes dominated:

2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement Implementation

The main theme of UNEA-2, Delivering on the 2030 Agenda, was a particular focus. The implementation of the work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a primary undertaking of the UN system, and the Assembly showed their full understanding of this.

UNEA asked UNEP to initiate new partnerships and strengthen existing ones, including with the private sector and civil society.

Building on its work in sustainable finance with the UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System and the UNEP Finance Initiative, member states also asked UNEP to continue to build on its work at the intersection of finance and the environment.

With the Paris Agreement one the most significant environmental agreements in recent decades, UNEA also agreed that UNEP should accelerate support to countries, especially developing countries, to build national readiness capacity to implement the Agreement, build implementation capacity and capacity to access finance and technology.

Illegal Trade in Wildlife

A key issue at UNEA-2 was the illegal trade in wildlife, which is pushing species to the brink of extinction, robbing countries of their natural heritage and profiting international criminal networks.

UNEA-2 passed a resolution building upon previous commitments made at the first UNEA and General Assembly resolution 69/134, urging Member States to take further steps at the national level and through regional and international cooperation to prevent, combat and eradicate the supply, transit and demand related to the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products.

This includes implementing strategies and action plans, strengthening governance systems on issues such as anti-corruption and anti-money-laundering, supporting the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime and the African Elephant Fund, and developing sustainable and alternative livelihoods for communities affected by the illegal trade in wildlife and its adverse impacts.

UNEP and partners – with the backing of celebrities such as Gisele Bündchen, Neymar Jr. and many others – also launched a new campaign, Wild For Life, to engage millions of members of the public to end the illegal trade in wildlife. Angola, which is hosting World Environment Day on 5 June, will make new commitments to combat the trade, particularly in ivory.

Marine Litter and Debris

It is estimated that there are 5.2 trillion pieces of plastic floating in our oceans, harming both the marine environment and biodiversity. To address this problem, member states resolved to encourage product manufacturers and others to consider the lifecycle environmental impacts of products containing microbeads and compostable polymers, including possible downstream impacts.

Delegates also sought the assistance of UNEP to assess the effectiveness of governance strategies and approaches to combat marine plastic litter and microplastics, and identify how to address gaps. They asked UNEP to help develop and implement national and regional action plans to target marine litter, with emphasis on those regions that are the largest sources.

Healthy Environment, Healthy People

World Health Organization estimates show that an estimated 12.6 million deaths are attributable to environmental factors each year, highlighting the importance of a healthy environment to healthy people. Several resolutions related to human health and the environment were passed. The resolution on sound management of chemicals and waste targeted actions on chemicals such as lead – exposure to which claimed an estimated 654,000 lives in 2010 and causes developmental damage to young children.

Delegates called on UNEP to develop research on actions that could be adopted to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relevant to the issue; asked the private sector to play a bigger role in an integrated approach to the sound management of chemicals and waste; and requested nations to ensure better recycling of lead-acid batteries at national or regional facilities.

Another resolution called on UNEP to establish a global research network on the threat posed by sand and dust storms and integrate the issue into its work. Sand and dust storms contribute to lowered air quality – a worldwide problem that claims seven million lives each year.

Other resolutions

Armed conflict and its relation to the environment was also a significant source of discussion at UNEA-2. A symposium focused on environment and displacement : root causes and implecations.

One decision called on Member States to take appropriate measures to ensure compliance with international obligations under international humanitarian law in relation to the protection of the environment in times of armed conflict.

Resolutions on food waste and sustainable consumption and production, which both impacts on the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement in terms of increasing emissions and resource use and holding back efforts to reduce hunger, were passed. The resolution called for increased efforts and cooperation to decrease the one third of all food produced each year that is lost or wasted and committed Member States to achieving SDG 12, which focuses on Sustainable Consumption and Production.

SOURCE United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)