Organized by the World Bank Development Communication Division, the USAID Development Communication and Sustainable Tourism Unit, and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).  We are pleased to invite you to participate in this E-Conference on “The Role of Development Communication in Sustainable Tourism” that will take place entirely through the Internet and emails between 29 May and 9 June 2006.

Tourism is one of the largest and rapidly expanding world economic sectors and represents an important development opportunity for many countries and communities if properly planned and managed. Development communication has a crucial role in planning and implementing tourism policies and initiatives. Strategic communication methodologies are necessary for facilitating stakeholder participation in the design and implementation of development policies and projects that identify and respond to real needs, develop local ownership and ensure sustainability.
This e-conference will bring together international institutions and donors, development practitioners, tourism professionals, decision-makers, academicians and communication specialists representing various national institutions, NGOs, private sector and media organizations from all the world to share experiences and lessons learned in applying communication best practices to sustainable tourism development. The E-Conference will be hosted on the Forum section of the World Bank Development Communication Webpage (www.devcomm.org). To register and participate, please click on the Sustainable Tourism link and follow the instructions. For more information on the five concurrent discussions, please see the concept note on the same webpage. We encourage you to send us case study documents, links to information and resources, and look forward to your participation. This e-conference will be followed by a related Summer Speaker Series, a specific event at the World Congress for Communication for Development in Rome in October 2006, and publication of the proceedings and collected submissions from these events.
Working language is English.
Please feel free to forward this invitation to any other relevant organizations and persons you know of.
Lucia Grenna and Gianmarco Scuppa, World Bank - Development Communications Division Roberta Hilbruner, USAID, Development Communication & Sustainable Tourism Eugenio Yunis and Gabor Vereczi, UNWTO, Sustainable Development of Tourism Department
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