Mexico City, Madrid
April 28, 2014
UNWTO called for higher support to tourism in international aid flows as to maximize the growing contribution of the sector to socio-economic development. The case for tourism’s higher prioritization in the development agenda was made during the Focus Session ‘Tourism as an Engine for Growth and Development’ held at the First High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation [1] (Mexico City, Mexico, 15-16 April 2014).
Despite being a high-impact economic activity, a major job generator and key export sector – accounting for 6% of total trade, tourism receives only 0.5% of the total Aid for Trade (AfT) disbursements and a mere 0.13% of the total Official Development Assistance (ODA).
In his message to the meeting, the Minister of Tourism of South Africa and chairperson of the UNWTO Working Group on ODA, Marthinus van Schalkwyk highlighted that “the intersection of the three policy imperatives of tourism development, social inclusion and green growth could hold the key to substantial new resources as well as the more effective deployment of existing resources. Tourism has a major task ahead - to convince the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee, the World Bank, regional development banks, developed-country donors and other United Nations agencies of the sector’s important contribution to poverty eradication, the green economy and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals”.
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