‘Govts should imitate Chinese approach’

Written by Austin Jacobson

Friday, 26 November 2010 22:30

Governments around the world should follow the Chinese approach to tourism, according to the UNWTO Ministers Summit at the World Travel Market in London on Tuesday. Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General UNWTO, said: “China is seeing the benefits of giving tourism a very high priority within government. It is an example other countries should try to follow.” More than 150 tourism ministers and aides attended the summit. Qiwei Shao. Chairman of the China National Tourism Administration, said the Chinese government started to listen when he was able to show that 109 other sectors were involved in tourism. Some 15 million people are employed directly in tourism, with another 85 million indirectly employed. The importance of tourism generally varies across the globe. John Penrose, Minister of Tourism of the UK pointed out that he is the first dedicated tourism minister the UK has had; Italy and Argentina have both upgraded the importance of tourism within the structure of their government. Mexico’s Tourism Minister, Gloria Guevara, said tourism was a priority for the country, which wanted to become one of the world’s top five destinations. It is already in the top 10. One way in which ministers can make their government colleagues listen is to rethink the data used to make the economic case for tourism. Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Minister of Tourism and Aviation for the Bahamas, said the key metric should be the economic value not only arrivals. The role of the private sector in this is pivotal, the ministers insisted, although competitive concerns and the fragmented nature of the sector often prevent companies from working together. Sustainability also came up high in the summit’s agenda, with ministers told that they  needed to be more vocal in defending tourism’s environmental record. Many ministers agreed that sustainability was not only about climate change but also cultural heritage, resources and socio-economics.