Policy Being Formulated to Develop Faith-Based Tourism
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica; August 16, 2016: As part of the Ministry of Tourism’s strategy to significantly increase visitor arrivals and develop the tourism sector, a policy is being formulated to deliberately target the faith-based tourism market.
According to Travel-Market Report, a noted publication for travel professionals, faith-based tourism contributes between US$50 billion and US$100 billion annually to the global economy. Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett told influential church leaders attending the World-wide Synod of the Moravian Church that he was keen on tapping into this market.
Minister Bartlett addressed the Moravians from more than 30 countries at a reception at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa, Montego Bay recently, ahead of the start of their weeklong synod which is held in a different country every seven years and was last held in Jamaica in 1974.
The framework for the faith-based tourism strategy was developed recently and according to Minister Bartlett, was born not just out of a strong call for more visitors to come to the country, “but because we believe in the mission and we believe that there is great benefit to accrue to our society from the values of Christianity.”
He added, “also, our experience has shown that Jamaica is positioning itself as a truly democratic society where freedom of thought and religion is practiced and where Christians feel freer to speak and to practice their faith more than any other place on earth.”
Minister Bartlett asserted that he was accentuating “a position that is truly honest about Jamaica,” as he pointed out that “we have more churches per square mile in Jamaica than anywhere else in the region.” He also stated, “our collective consciences have been conditioned by The Bible” and that the country’s Constitution and laws have been influenced by God’s principles.
Elaborating on the development of the policy, Mr. Bartlett said it would guide how Jamaica builds the requisite infrastructure needed to enable larger groups of Christians and/or religious visitors to come to the country and determine the framework of experiences that are offered.
“Our churches have over the years been the base of faith-based tourism but the churches have not been structured and organized enough to encourage large visits and pilgrimages; nor large conventions into Jamaica, so the Montego Bay Convention Centre is going to be able to respond to the call for usage for large and medium-sized conventions,” he indicated.
He stressed that the last time Jamaica had a large church group visiting was in 2011 when some 3,000 Christians arrived in Montego Bay on a chartered cruise dubbed Cruise With a Cause and they carried out voluntary social programmes including visitations to schools and hospitals.
The tourism minister declared, “we are excited at the prospects of working with the churches in building out a very important area of tourism and it’s going to have more than the value of just bringing visitors here and providing greater earnings for the economy; it is going to be a confluence of a deeper spiritual and a more moral approach that will influence our lives and help us to be a better people in Jamaica.”
Minister of Tourism and Sports of Thailand receives letter from African “brother and colleague”
Travel to Thailand, the land of smiles. This was the statement today by the Hon. Walter Mzembi, the world traveling tourism minister from Africa. Mzembi may very well be the next Secretary General of UNWTO. He is more and more showing face everywhere. Not only tourism insiders consider him now an important global player for the largest industry in the world, travel and tourism.
With his bid to become the next Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the Zimbabwe Minister of Tourism and Hospitality has shown his commitment and interest in reaching out to all corners of the world. It includes his planned attendance during the celebration of the upcoming World Tourism Day in Bangkok next month.
In view of the recent and ongoing attack on the Thai Travel and Tourism Industry, the minister today had the following letter delivered to H.E. Mrs. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports of Thailand.
eTN was able to obtain a copy of the letter. It says:
Dear Madam Minister,
I have learnt with dismay and a deep sense of sadness of a wave in recent days, of coordinated bomb attacks, whose key target is clearly our beloved sector, Tourism.
The cold blooded acts, meant to induce fear in the travelling public, and to undermine Thailand’s buoyant and resilient Tourism Sector which recently registered record arrivals will not deter the globe from its continued expression of goodwill for the country. But once again dear colleague Sister, this latest act of aggression on our sector, should unite us against terror and heighten our resolve to find sustainable solutions to securing peace for Tourism to thrive. No cause is worth the loss of innocent lives, pursuing the happiness enshrined in tourism.
On behalf of my sector and on my own behalf, I wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the Government of Thailand, the bereaved families and those of the injured and wish them eternal peace and speed recovery respectively.
I wish to reaffirm notwithstanding all these distractions, my commitment to attend the World Tourism Day Celebrations in Bangkok on 27th September 2016.
The best way to help Thailand, under the circumstances is to continue visiting Thailand, the Land of Smiles!
Please accept Madam Minister, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Yours Hon Dr Walter Mzembi (MP),
MINISTER OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY, REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE
UNWTO CAF CHAIRPERSON
AFRICA UNION OFFICIAL CANDIDATE FOR UNWTO SECRETARY GENERAL POST, 2017 sincerely,
Obama ties to ISIS: An appeal to the American Travel Industry by the ICTP Chairman
Today an American tourism leader, the chairman of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), asked the American travel and tourism industry to unite. ICTP Chairman Juergen T. Steinmetz, who is also the publisher of eTurboNews (eTN), a global news publication for the travel and tourism industry, spoke out after US presidential candidate Donald Trump leaked the result of his extensive research to link the sitting U.S. President Barack Obama to the Islamic State, a terror group also known as IS or ISIS.
It’s not April Fools’ Day, and this is not “just for laughs,” but today on August 11, 2016 Donald Trump concluded that American President Obama was the founder of the Islamic State.
These are words by Donald Trump, a native U.S. citizen running for the highest office in the United States of America. He relates a warning to the American people, as the want-to-be future leader of the free world.
Juergen Steinmetz said: “Candidate Donald Trump must be disqualified. His behavior is unacceptable for anyone, specially for someone running for public office. It would be unspeakable if he ever became president of our great country or got a leading position in our government, a government put together by the people and for the people.”
Steinmetz went on to comment: “The terror group ISIS and Trump both pray on terror, one with deadly force and bombs, the other with terroristic verbal threatening and the potential to inspire some crazy people to use such threats as a trigger for deadly force.”
“I don’t care if Trump promises everything in the book. I don’t care if his approach would guarantee us millions of jobs, if his fence along our borders would resolve our immigration issues. Adolf Hitler got the German people lots of jobs as well, and he was voted in by the German people, many of them good people, but misled and clueless.
“At this point it becomes really irrelevant what both candidates are promising.”
Steinmetz continued: “Travel and tourism is the largest industry in the world and an industry of tolerance, peace and understanding. The United States of America is seen as a tourism leader and the largest tourism market in the world. Many jobs depend on this industry.
This is our industry and our industry should unite against a political candidate preaching hate and violence, no matter in what country he is, or what he supports. We are a peaceful industry in a peaceful country with great people. Our industry is a fun industry and must stand together against hate and intolerance. The discussion is no longer pro-Democrat or pro-Republican at this point. The decision for anyone loving this country can only be ‘NOT TRUMP.’
A united NOT TRUMP voice of the American travel industry should be heard loud and clear and far. It’s extremely important for our industry to flourish.”
Steinmetz concluded: “Our Secret Service should start doing their job to protect our president, President Barack Obama, and arrest Donald Trump for terroristic threatening. I can only thank Donald Trump for revealing President Obama’s ties to ISIS and feel sorry for Mr. Trump. I wish Mr. Trump all the best for his future endeavors and hopefully he can find some professional help.”
The International Coalition of Tourism Partners is about GREEN GROWTH & QUALITY equals BUSINESS.
It’s free to join ICTP as a destination, as a stakeholder, association, tourism leader or journalist. Go to www.ictp.travel for more information.
UNWTO welcomes Indonesia’s cutting edge tourism visa policy
UNWTO has expressed its full support to the decision of the Government of Indonesia to grant free visa to citizens from 169 countries. The measure looks for attracting international tourism to the country by simplifying travel procedures and follows research by UNWTO and WTTC that shows that visa facilitation in the ASEAN economies could create between 333,000 to 654,000 new jobs in a period of three years.
The visa-free policy is valid for a maximum stay of 30 days, has no restriction on the number of visits per year, and is non-extendable nor convertible to any other stay permit. Nationals of visa-free countries can enter Indonesia in any of the 124 immigration check points that the country possesses.
“Indonesia is setting an example to the world. UNWTO welcomes the decision of the Government of Indonesia which clearly reflects the commitment of the country with the development of the tourism sector as a driver of economic growth, jobs and well-being for its people” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.
UNWTO has been extensively advocating for the benefits of safe, secure and seamless travel as a means to promote tourism development and multiply socio-economic benefits of the sector.
According to the UNWTO/WTTC Report Impact of Visa Facilitation in ASEAN Member States, ASEAN stands to gain 6 to 10 million additional international tourist arrivals from improved visa facilitation. The additional receipts generated by these tourists could reach between US$7 and US$12 billion.
Progress has been made at global level yet many opportunities remain for improvement, namely through maximizing the use of new technologies.
The 2015 UNWTO Visa Openness Report shows that the share of total tourists required to obtain a traditional visa prior to travelling continues to decline and is at its lowest level ever. In 2015, 39% of the world population could travel for tourism without obtaining a traditional visa prior to departure as compared to only 23% in 2008.
USA joining UNWTO: One State at a time?
“On World Tourism I am full to the brim with ideas,” Dr. Walter Mzembi tells eTN. Perhaps this is the solution for the largest world tourism superpower, the United States to officially join the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The solution may be 50 new members to the UNWTO, one State at a time?
This out of the box approach was discussed with U.S. Ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr and Dr. Walter Mzembi, outspoken candidate for the next Secretary General of the UNWTO in 2017.
The United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe Harry K. Thomas, Jr. paid a Courtney call to the Zimbabwe minister of tourism Dr. Walter Mzembi on Thursday last week.
The minister had a wide ranging discussions with the American ambassador but the key message was on Universal Membership of the UNWTO. Currently the United States is not a member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Hon. Mzembi explained to the eTurboNews (eTN) publisher Juergen T Steinmetz in a phone interview on Sunday.
“The current world situation requires an inclusive approach in interrogating contemporary challenges and prescribing solutions, especially in Tourism and Security, Migration, Natural Disasters.”
“My point in the discussion with the Hon. Ambassador was that in the new world order there is no country that does not host a tourism economy, and every country is now either a source market or destination or both.
Universal membership to the UNWTO aligned to UN’s 192 Member States will be on the top of my agenda if I was elected to become the next Secretary General of the UNWTO in 2017.”
“Recruitment will be done on the back of a transformational agenda that places a new value proposition on the table to those that opted out on why they should belong. Ahead of UN 2017, IYSTD and running concurrently with my campaign for secretary general this shall be the key thrust. Recruitment and is not a secretariat function per se. Therefore I envisage a ministerial structure, that will be assigned this task going forward.”
For many years arguments from Washington were in opposition to joining UNWTO. The argument against it is money. “Paying high membership fees for just one voice. eTN was told at a WTM dinner by a senior government officials who didn’t want to be named:”Why should the United States pay top membership fees based on population and economic output, but only has one voice equal to the voice of a very small country like San Marino or Andorra?
eTN asked Dr.Mzembi about this. His response was surprising.
Dr. Mzembi: “The ambassador and I discussed the State Membership approach, I already have States like Illinois who are open to such proposals. I will definitely bring it up in Atlanta, but it needs a reformist approach within the UNWTO organization and one has to be looking at class of membership, voting rights etc.”
Dr. Mzembi will be coming to the United States to speak at the 2016 African Diaspora World Tourism Awards in Atlanta, Ga. on August 27th. This is an historical visit to the United States and very significant for the ADWT-Awards event.
The minister added: “Without this out of the box thinking UNWTO will remain the obscure technical organization that it has been for a while.It needs fresh thinking and I am full to the brim with ideas.”
The first United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe was appointed on May 23, 1980, after the Republic of Zimbabwe came into being to replace the previous white-minority government of Rhodesia, and its successor Zimbabwe-Rhodesia (1979–1980).
The Republic of Zimbabwe came into being on April 18, 1980. The United States immediately recognized the new nation and moved to establish diplomatic relations. An embassy in Harare was established on April 18, 1980, the independence day for Zimbabwe. Jeffrey Davidow was appointed as chargé d’affaires ad interim pending the appointment of an ambassador. The first ambassador, Robert V. Keeley, was appointed one month later on May 23, 1980.
The current U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe is Harry K. Thomas, Jr., who was sworn in on December 8, 2015
To date, Dr. Mzembi is the longest serving tourism minister in UNWTO, currently serving as chair for the United Nation Commission on Africa.
He is credited with institutionalizing tourism in the Africa Union which had long overlooked tourism as a critical factor in economic and social cohesion and development. He has also been a member of Parliament for the Masvingo South Constituency since 2004 and UNWTO’s Commission for Africa Chairperson from 2013 to date.
His candidacy for the UNWTO top post was recently endorsed by the African Union.