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Welcome address : Geneva, international city and a place of tourism

Carlo LAMPRECHT - Chairman of the Economy, Employment and External Affairs Department, President of the Foundation for tourism, Geneva, Switzerland

 

As an internationally-oriented city, a tourist destination and a meeting area, Geneva is happy and proud to welcome again the opening session of the Tourism Summits.

With over 10,000 visitors a day, from all parts of the world, Geneva combines strong hosting capacities, developed in the past centuries and a unique location, at the heart of a very special natural environment. With respect to this, we look forward to cooperating with the Chamonix Mont-Blanc region, that certainly is, together with Geneva, one of the most attractive and most visited "tourist couples" in the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen: the 3 rd Tourism Summits, a significant meeting between professionals and global tourism players on the one hand, and politics and economics decision-makers on the other hand, are held this year under very specific circumstances.

A year ago, we were addressing here the same tremendous growth in global tourism and its promising outcome while we entered the 21 st century. We talked about the obvious impact of an industry sector that will become the most important business segment worldwide and of its effects, whether positive or negative, on the environment, economy and people.

Even though - and we knew it - this exponential growth remained exposed to the current fluctuations and beyond to a series of risk factors, no one could expect the tragedy that is still haunting our memory and its multiple effects that today upset our fair expectations and change our behaviours.

This new global "reversal" that directly affects the tourism industry shows us today - if needed - how strongly tourism depends on the political and economic environment of our planet.

As we kept focusing, for three consecutive years, on the environmental, economic and human dimension of the amazing global tourism growth, the news sadly remind us that the prerequisites, of any sustainable growth, must find their roots in a safe, trustful and peaceful environment.

And while we're at it, let's emphasize that the United Nations have supported the Worldwide Tourism Ethical Code in 1999, implemented by the World Tourism Organization, that recognized the following: …

"A significant role in promoting and developing tourism, in order to contribute to the economic growth, global understanding, peace, prosperity and the universal compliance and.observance of the human rights and fundamental liberties, regardless of the race, gender, language and religion.

In the preamble dedicated to this new worldwide code, that today is even more valuable, we can read the following: "through the direct, spontaneous and unmediated contacts it allows between men and women with different cultures and lifestyles, tourism is a valuable peace-enabler as well as a friendship and understanding factor between peoples of the world." (end of quote).

Therefore, as we all strongly believe that business or leisure tourism plays a key role in improving relations and international trade, we have to admit that the global environment, today diminished, is an impediment to the process.

However, this should not discourage us. The Tourism Summits give us the opportunity to focus on tomorrow's outcome in tourism, its role as a nurturing vector for individuals and communities, and as a key factor for personal education, mutual tolerance and learning of the differences between people and cultures.

However, to be successful while we implement a policy in favour of tourism growth, creating business and jobs, contributing to the improvement of living standards of populations and visited regions, we are bound to conciliate this economic growth with the observance of a few rules needed for an accountable and sustainable tourism growth.

Geneva looks forward to getting involved in this project by making its experience and abilities available for new insights and strategies that, tomorrow, will dictate the future of global tourism.

During these 3 rd Tourism Summits, a special place where we all share knowledge, let's hope that we can contribute in the shaping of a safer global environment, the key to a seamless tourism growth.