UNWTO calls for higher share of tourism in int’l aid flows

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has called for higher share of tourism in international aid flows to maximize the growing contribution of the sector to socio-economic development.

In a statement, UNWTO said this case for tourism’s higher prioritization in the development agenda was the focus of the discussions during the First High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation recently held in Mexico.

Despite being a high-impact economic activity, a major job generator and key export sector – accounting for six percent of total trade, UNWTO said that tourism receives only 0.5 percent of the total Aid for Trade (AfT) disbursements and a mere 0.13 percent of the total Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Based on UNWTO data, tourism accounts for 42 percent of the exports of services of emerging markets and developing economies and has been identified by half of the least developed countries as a priority instrument for poverty reduction.

International tourism to emerging and developing economies has been growing strongly in recent years.

In 2013, emerging and developing economies received 506 million international tourists or 47 percent of all international tourist arrivals in the world as compared to 38 percent in 2000.

UNWTO forecast this share to surpass that of advanced economies in the coming years and to reach 57 percent by 2030.

South Africa Tourism Minister Minister and chairperson of the UNWTO Working Group on ODA Marthinus van Schalkwyk, in his speech during the meeting, said “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,” van Schalkwyk said.

UNWTO executive director for Operational Programs and Institutional Relations Márcio Favilla, for his part, said “tourism should be part of the new architecture of the Effective Development Cooperation Agenda helping to promote an inclusive, sustainable and people centered growth.”