Symposium on UNWTO Sustainable Tourism Observatories nets new knowledge
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
Morocco’s Minister of Tourism named Travel Personality of the Year
At a ceremony in Dubai attended by travel and tourism industry professionals and representatives from the local Arab community as well as the international media, Morocco’s Minister of Tourism, Mr. Lahcen Haddad, was named the 2015 “Tourism Personality of the Year.”
The minister received the award from the Arab Center for Tourist Media as part of the 8th edition of tourist trophies awarded annually by the center since 2008.
During the ceremony, Mr. Hussein, President of the Arab Center for Tourist Media, said that the consecration of Mr. Haddad is “to honor the minister in recognition of his experience and his efforts for the development of Arabic and local tourism.” He also explained that the objective of these awards is to “support and encourage the efforts and achievements to develop this sector in the Arab countries, and to boost tourist flows in Arab countries, and encourage the use of quality of services.
In his address, Mr. Haddad recalled the place and positioning of Morocco as a destination in the world tourism sphere. “This place embodies the maturity of the Moroccan destination and reaffirms its relevance.”
Mr. Haddad was reassured about the future of world tourism, adding that the tourism industry remains important, especially as the trip culture is increasingly rooted in travel habits. He said that tourism is a major factor of global economic change which is evolving more towards the services entertainment industry. Mr. Haddad added that the challenge for the coming years is to mobilize policymakers to focus on the innovations of the tourism trade.
The selection committee from the Arab Center for Tourist Media announced that the awarding of the prize of “Tourism Personality of the Year” going to Mr. Lahcen Haddad, was the result of him receiving a score of 4,569 votes. The mode of voting for this edition was done by electronic vote with the participation of 122 AEs listed in 23 categories representing 18 Arab countries.