UNWTO Wraps Up Its 19th General Assembly in Gyeongju

Worldwide international tourism numbers projected to reach 1.8 billion by 2030

The 19th Session of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly took place at the Hotel Hyundai in Gyeongju from Oct. 8-14 with roughly 800 tourism ministers and other delegates from 125 countries in attendance.
Among the participants of the session, hosted by the UNWTO and the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), were UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro; Feffry Sachs, special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; and tourism ministers and vice ministers from 60 countries.
The biennial meeting was held to set a platform, which provides a roadmap for the tourism industry, demonstrating its role for a sustainable future. It also served as an opportunity for the participants to discuss the role of the tourism industry in the environment and its role for shared growth in the world.
During the session, Zambia and Zimbabwe were awarded the rights to co-host the 20th Session of the UNWTO General Assembly.
Gyeongju became the first provincial city in the world to host the UNWTO general assembly with the participation by the largest-ever number of tourism ministers, which is expected to contribute to enhancing the host city's national and international standing.
Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Kim Kwan-yong said, "The successful hosting of the 19th Session of the UNWTO General Assembly was a significant international meeting that the people of Gyeongsangbuk-do are feeling proud of." He said the provincial government will continue to develop tourism products suiting the region's characteristics, foster hospitality among those in the tourism industry, and boost local tourism demand through the establishment of a tourism agency and total management systems, while striving to make the province a center of the nation's tourism industry by developing tourism products with a competitive edge and strengthening a human network for boosting the revisiting of the province.
The participating delegates were given a special tour program that took them to the Hahoe Village in Andong, a site on the UN World Heritage List, and the Sangju Weir, a part of the Lee Myung-bak government's projects to promote green and ecology tourism under its ambitious Four Rivers Restoration Projects. The special tour program was made possible because of the 2011 general assembly's theme "sustainable tourism."

UNWTO TOURISM FORECAST
Worldwide international tourist arrivals are forecast to reach 1.8 billion by 2030 according to the newly released UNWTO long-term forecast, "Tourism Towards 2030." The report, presented on the occasion of the 19th session of the UNWTO General Assembly, confirms that international tourism will continue to grow in a sustained manner in the next two decades.
International tourism will continue to grow during the period 2010-2030, but at a more moderate pace than the past decades, with the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide increasing by an average of 3.3 percent a year. As a result, an average 43 million additional international tourists will join the tourism marketplace every year. nw

(from top) Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choe Kwang-shik holds talks with United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary-General Taleb Rifai at the the 19th Session of the UNWTO General Assembly. Dignitaries from Korea and abroad attend an opening ceremony of the UNWTO session.

Photos on courtesy of the MCST