UN Committee Addresses Tourism and Poverty Alleviation

UN Committee Addresses Tourism and Poverty Alleviation

The recently created UN Steering Committee on Tourism for Development (SCTD) addressed the contribution of tourism in advancing development during a special event on Tourism for Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction at the Fourth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV) in Algarve, Turkey on May 9.

The Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey hosted the session that brought together representatives from LDCs including 15 national tourism ministers, various UN agencies, and donor countries to debate the contribution of tourism to sustainable development.

“Most LDCs are rich in resources. All have young and vibrant populations. These men and women need decent jobs, education and training, so they can make the most of their country’s assets -- minerals and other commodities, farmland, rich stores of biodiversity, and tourism potential,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the opening of LDC-IV.

LDC-IV revealed that international tourist arrivals to the 48 least developed countries grew from 6 million in 2000 to over 17 million in 2010. During the same period, international tourism receipts for these nations climbed from $3 billion to over $10 billion. Tourism is one of the top three sources of export earnings for nearly half of the LDCs, and is a priority sector for them to get more integrated in the global economy.

UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi emphasized the critical importance of quality in the development of a competitive tourism sector in LDCs, including the quality of investment, infrastructure, and human resources. “The LDCs should aim at the quality segment in the global value chain and, as the Maldives successfully demonstrated, focus on excellence in the tourism product,” said Panitchpakdi.