What's
Ahead? ATA Ecotourism, Commerce and Investment Symposium
Report on 2002
From Mozambique, Africa to Quebec City, Canada the World
prepares to celebrate the International Year of
Ecotourism
WTO
held a series of regional seminars and conferences to
prepare for the International Year of Ecotourism. Africa
led off with a seminar in Maputo, Mozambique - followed
by Cuiabá, Brazil for the Americas; St Johann,
Austria for Europe; Almaty, Kazakhstan for CIS countries,
China and Mongolia; Thessaloniki,
Greece for European and Mediterranean countries;
Algeria for desert areas; Victoria,
Seychelles for Small Island Developing States and other
islands. The 2002 agenda includes Malé, Maldives,
February 8-10, 2002, for the Asia-Pacific region;
and Fiji, April 14-15, 2002,
for the South Pacific Islands. Findings
from these conferences and seminars will be presented at
the World Ecotourism Summit, to be held in Quebec,
Canada between May 19 and 22, 2002.
At the Maputo seminar, Mr. Eugenio
Yunis, WTO Chief of the Sustainable Development of
Tourism Section, indicated that lack of suitable controls
could threaten the very future of the sector.
• Unsustainable ecotourism is
putting at risk the survival of the natural environment
that is the very bedrock of the ecotourism business and,
more serious still, detracts from and even discredits
this activity," he said.
Various elements, needed to
guarantee the long-term sustainability of any ecotourism
project, were highlighted by Mr. Yunis. They
included:
• Ensuring that it
contributes to the conservation of natural areas and the
sustainable development of adjoining lands and
communities.
• Creating specific
strategies to avoid anarchic and disorderly
development.
• Providing efficient
coordination between public and private
sectors,
• including the active
involvement of local communities in the planning,
developing, managing and regulating
of ecotourism projects.
• Minimizing the impact of
tourism accommodation, transport facilities and any
activities organized for tourists.
• Ensuring that a reasonable
proportion of income from tourism is channelled into
local communities and into conserving natural
heritage.
• Managing the movement of
tourists to avoid overcrowding, and carrying out
continuous monitoring of the visitors' impact on the
environment.
Other activities being organized
by WTO for the International Year of Ecotourism include
the publication of a 'Compilation of Good Practices in
the Sustainable Development and Management of
Ecotourism', as well as a market research programme in
the main ecotourism generating markets, including
Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Canada
and the United States. Detailed
information on the above events and activities is
available - and regularly updated - on WTO's IYE 2002 web
page: http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/IYE-Main-Menu.htm
Africa Travel Association (ATA)
partners with the WTO on many Travel Industry events. For
details, see our web site: www.ata-ata.org/wto.htm, or
e-mail: africatravelasso@aol.com (212)
447-1926
