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BY A CORRESPONDENT
March 15, 2007: The United Nations World Tourism
Day-2007, to be celebrated on September 27, will have as
its theme ‘Tourism opens doors for women.’
The host nation for the 2007 event is Sri Lanka.
The United Nation World Tourism Day is held annually on
the date of the adoption of the original United Nations
World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) statutes.
The theme for 2007 follows the previous year’s theme of
‘Tourism Enriches.’
The organisers hope to highlight the opportunities in
the travel sector for women around the world.
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation intends to
join forces with the United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM) to prepare a programme for the World
Tourism Day with a view to enhancing the role of women
in tourism.
In an effort to enhance public awareness of the
opportunities in the tourism business for women, the
United Nations World Tourism Organisation will launch an
online photo contest to show women in leadership roles
at all levels within the tourism sector. In all, 12
selected winners will be exhibited during the UNWTO
General Assembly in November, 2007.
A dedicated website www.tourismgender.com will be
launched by the UNWTO with help from the Sustainable
Tourism Research Centre in Australia, focusing on the
role of gender in tourism and the part that can be
played by women in sustainable tourism.
Francesco Frangialli, UNWTO president says: “With Sri
Lanka as the host country and planned celebrations
around the world, UNWTO is launching this new initiative
to show the achievements, opportunities and challenges
for women in tourism.”
“By working closely with the UNIFEM, our sister agency,
and using our Global Code of Ethics for Tourism as a
framework, we believe we can help this industry make
even greater contribution to the Millennium Development
Goals,” Francesco Frangialli adds.
Gender equality, the empowerment of women and the
elimination of gender disparity in education is the 3rd
UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to which the UNWTO
is committed. The MGDs are to be analysed annually till
2015.
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