UNWTO launches World Tourism Day 2011 which will be held on 27 September 2011, and will be celebrated under the theme Tourism – Linking Cultures, an opportunity to highlight tourism’s role in bringing the cultures of the world together and promoting global understanding through travel.

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation and the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism have launched a new energy efficiency project in the country. The project – entitled Sustainable Tourism through Energy Efficiency with Adaptation and Mitigation Measures in Pangandaran – aims to serve as a model of innovative climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in tourism destinations in Indonesia and south-east Asia.

While tourism has enormous potential to contribute to development, it can only do so with adequate governance systems which empower people and communities – this was one of the main messages emerging from the UNWTO Algarve Forum (1-3 June, Vilamoura, Portugal).

UNWTO and the Tunisian Government have signed a partnership agreement under which UNWTO will support the country’s tourism development. Policy guidance, marketing and training for the tourism workforce are among the planned areas of cooperation. 

As the leading foreign exchange earner and representing one in every seven jobs tourism is key to the economic recovery of Egypt prime minister Essam Sharaf has said. Following discussions with UNWTO secretary-general, Taleb Rifai, and president of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), David Scowsill, Sharaf confirmed the strategic importance of tourism for the country’s economic recovery and social stability, especially in the current transition period.

The President of Hungary, Pál Schmitt, is among the first European heads of state to join the ongoing World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Leaders for Tourism Campaign.