Talk fest master in Chiang Mai

The master of talk fests, UN World Tourism Organisation, will host a “warm up” meeting on green tourism, 3 May, in Chiang Mai, to prepare a tourism agenda for yet another global conference on sustainable development due to be hosted in Rio de Janeiro next June.

Directly after the Chiang Mai event UNWTO’s  talk fest continues, 4 to 5 May, with two “commission” meetings to present the agency’s forecast for international tourism, dubbed Tourism Towards 2030.

UNWTO Secretary-General Dr Taleb Rifai said “The theme of our conference for this year has been selected to reflect contemporary issues of global as well as regional interests.

“The steady growth of travel and tourism is set to continue as our 2020 forecast has proved year after year. With the 980 million record of 2011, international tourist arrivals are sure to cross the 1 billion threshold by the end of this year.”

UNWTO pays lip service to green issues, while hosting hundreds of meetings around the world annually that critics say waste resources and fail to achieve measurable goals that can benefit sustainable tourism.

Ministry of tourism officials from the ASEAN region spend most of their working lives commuting between workshops and meetings, many of the organised by the likes of UNWTO, but without any practical application to real-world tourism.

Like all conference organisers, Dr Rifai argues that UNWTO events “Give ample opportunity for discussions to provide insights into why we see green tourism as the way to go.”

He added: “The conference on green tourism will be akin to a warming-up exercise and an opportunity for us to advance the green economy agenda as the world prepares for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro next June.”

The only practical benefit for hosting the warm-up meeting in Chiang Mai will be the opportunity for delegates to visit the Huai Hong Khrai Royal Development Study Centre that will illustrate the extensive contribution of His Majesty the King to the cause of sustainability, without a single conference or workshop convened.

Source - ttrweekly