Tourism Indochina: The Middle East’s Religious Tourism Sector Values at $18 billion per Year

Tourism Indochina: The Middle East’s Religious Tourism Sector Values at $18 billion per Year

The World Religious Travel Association (WRTA) is the leading network for shaping, enriching, and expanding the $18 billion global faith tourism industry. WRTA exists to bring the worldwide trade and North American religious consumer together for the primary purpose of promoting and providing quality travel experiences around the globe. As the source and voice for the religious travel industry, WRTA provides members opportunities to network, learn, contribute, and lead. WRTA embraces all segments of faith tourism: Pilgrimages, Missionary, Cruises, Leisure Conferences, Retreats, Destinations, Attractions, Christian Camps, Family, Student/Youth, Adventure and Volunteer Vacations.

Tourism Indochina: The Middle East’s Religious Tourism Sector Values at $18 billion per Year:
(TTN:May 2009): THE Middle East’s religious tourism sector – valued at $18 billion per year - can play a decisive role in driving the region’s short term industry revenues, says Kevin J Wright, president, World Religious Travel Association (WRTA). The Middle East is already the world’s largest driver of religious travel, tourism and hospitality, with the sector fuelling the region’s current annual tourism growth of 11 per cent per annum.
However, Wright insists specialist travel providers need to develop the best possible travel experiences to leverage income from the three billion people around the world who trace their religious roots and faiths to the Middle East.

“Religious tourism is recognised as one of the most resilient markets in the travel industry,” said Wright, who will conduct a seminar entitled The New Era of Religious Tourism at ATM. “Pilgrimages are not the sole driver of the religious market anymore and people of faith are increasingly seeking greater quality travel experiences across the full spectrum of sub-sectors which drive the industry,” he said. Saudi Arabia is the market’s primary driver, with the Islamic Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages seeing the Kingdom receive over six million worshipers annually. Here the religious tourism industry generated an estimated $7billion annually. Wright also identified Jordan and Palestine as growth markets.

“Ninety five percent of tourism in Palestine is religion based, while Jordan is targeting tourism revenues of up to $2.4billion, per year, by 2010 – over 60 percent higher than income generated in 2007,” he said.

Iraq was also emerging as a serious player in the sector. Areas of religious significance, such as Najaf, already welcomes eight million pilgrims a year, but a new airport will increase inbound capacity to over 20 million. Source: TTN

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Tourism ideas seen to lack wow now factor

The Hong Kong Tourism Board has been promised support to target emerging markets such as India, the Middle East and Russia.

Donald Tsang also promised to help attract mainland visitors from provinces other than Guangdong to boost tourism. But he did not spell out exactly how much the government might contribute.

The board will establish an office overseas to promote meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions - or MICE business, as it is known.

The government and the Trade Development Council are also examining the feasibility of a phase three expansion of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at a nearby site.

Negotiations with Russia for a mutual visa-free agreement, meanwhile, are in their final stages.

That could make Hong Kong the first advanced region to reach such an agreement with Moscow.

Tsang said Hong Kong is also about to conclude an agreement with Macau to speed up immigration clearance for residents traveling between the two.

Hong Kong residents made 8.17 million visits to Macau last year. Under the deal, they should before the end of next year be able to clear immigration procedures using e-channels in Macau without filling out arrival forms.

On what Hong Kong offers, Tsang said cultural infrastructure and heritage conservation were just as important as economic growth.

Hexagonal rock columns and other features on the New Territories eastern coastline are unique attractions, he noted, and a geological park would provide academic research as well as tourism.

Ten sites are being considered as worthy candidates for heritage attention, including the Ninepin island group, Lai Chi Chong, Ping Chau and High Island.

On the cultural front, a revitalization of the original Central School would be modeled on the Fringe Club, though a public consultation will begin next year.

The government will also continue to back popular tourism and infrastructure, including a Kai Tak cruise terminal, the former Marine Police Headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui and the West Kowloon Cultural District.

But the chairman of the Inbound Travel Association, Paul Leung Yiu- lam, said Tsang failed to provide fast remedies for the struggling sector. He said the government is on the right track but that it will take years for these plans to materialize.

"It is good to waive visas for Russians, but we don't have enough Russian- speaking tour guides," Leung added. For example, the SAR is better equipped for Vietnamese or English-speaking Middle Eastern tourists.

On eco-tourism, he said a geological park or revitalized heritage sites may be value-added attractions, but "if tourists want to see rocks, they don't come to Hong Kong for that."

Tourism constituency lawmaker Paul Tse Wai-chun found the policy address disappointing.

He believes organizing events such as the Rugby Sevens and the International Dragon Boat Championships will invigorate tourism quickly.


By Nickkita Lau

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UN launched best practices for sustainable tourism

While ‘sustainable tourism’ and ‘environmental sustainability’ have been critical buzzwords around the industry these past few months, this is the first time the UN has launched a globally relevant best practices criteria.

Launched together with the Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), this newest UN framework has been 15 months in the making.

“Sustainability is just like the old business adage: ‘you don’t encroach on the principal, you live off the interest’,” said Ted Turner, United Nations Foundation Founder and Chairman.

“Unfortunately, up to this point, the travel industry and tourists haven’t had a common framework to let them know if they’re really living up to that maxim.

“But the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) will change that. This is a win-win initiative – good for the environment and good for the world’s tourism industry,” he adds.

Announced at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress, the GSTC was founded by a coalition of 27 organizations, including representatives from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

“In order to minimize the negative impacts of this growth, sustainability should translate from words to facts, and be an imperative for all tourism stakeholders,” adds Francesco Frangialli, UNWTO Secretary-General.

“The GSTC initiative will undoubtedly constitute a major reference point for the entire tourism sector and an important step in making sustainability an inherent part of tourism development.”

It is estimated by the UNWTO that by 2020, 1.6 billion travellers will be crisscrossing the planet.

More than 4,500 criteria were analyzed and more than 80,000 people in the creation of the GSTC.

Full criteria can be found at www.SustainableTourismCriteria.org.


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Cambodia celebrated the World Tourism Day

Tourism responding to challenge of climate change is the hot topic of United Nation World Tourism Organization for world tourism day celebrated on 27 September 2008. This topic has trigged tourism and related field the discussion how tourism contributes to challenges of climate change which are the world hot issue. As one of the principle services exports in the world’s poorest and emerging countries, tourism has the potential to act effectively on the common cause of climate change response, linking it closely with the fight against poverty.

To raise public awareness on tourism and climate change and congratulate to the World Tourism Day, Ministry of Tourism in Cambodia has proposed the tourism day‘s topic and called for discussion among tourism students under the topic of “Tourism Responding to the Challenge of Climate Change”. This celebration aims to raise the tourism and climate awareness among publicity and also provide some recommendations, adaptations and strategies to minimize CO2 in tourism sector. Responding to the challenge of climate change, tourism officials suggested that ecotourism could be one of good tourism development solution that pay much attention of environmental conservation, which help deal with the climate change. As Cambodia has recently draft the National Ecotourism Policy, many articles in this policy has also mentioned about how ecotourism policy response to the climate change and develop in a sustainable manner.

Despite the fact that tourism sector has the potential to act the common cause of climate change, Tourism Sector is not the main cause to the climate change. Yet the industries that produce much green house gas are the main causes to the global warming and lead to climate change. Tourism, however, is still one among the others sectors that address keys solution to these challenges. With this context, Cambodia tourism sector has very little contribution in this global issue because Cambodia is a developing country and tourism is just a noticeable sector accelerating Cambodia economic in the last several years.

Ministry of Tourism represents its consideration in promoting the challenges of climate change and sustainable development among tourism development agencies, business and publicity in order to mitigate negative impacts and maximize profit in harmony with the codes of environmental responsibility. The Ministry also hopes all relevant stakeholders in tourism sector will help address this issue and make the balance between development and conservation while increasing the community welfare.

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Tourism responding to the Challenge of Climate Change

The conference “Tourism – Responding to Climate and Poverty Imperatives”, held in the context of ITB 2008, focused on tourism’s role in the global climate response in solidarity with other sectors. As one of the principle services exports in the world’s poorest and emerging countries, tourism has the potential to act effectively on the common cause of climate change response, linking it closely with the fight against poverty.


As the UN agency in charge of tourism, UNWTO is leading the positioning of the sector within the global efforts on climate response and poverty alleviation. UNWTO’s approach matches the road map laid out by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the broader UN System Agenda.


The Davos Declaration Process promoted by UNWTO “urges action by the entire tourism sector to face climate change as one of the greatest challenges to sustainable development, and to the UN Millennium Development Goals in the 21st Century.”


“Climate change response and poverty alleviation are complementary goals. All tourism stakeholders will very soon support concrete consensus measures to address these challenges. Our focus on climate change and the broader development agenda coincides with the active support of the UN Millennium Development Goals”, UNWTO Assistant Secretary-General Geoffrey Lipman.


This is the message presented by UNWTO during the thematic debate ‘Addressing Climate Change: The United Nations and the World at Work’, held in February at UN Headquarters in New York. UNWTO will mobilize its more than 150 Member States and its Affiliate Members in the private and academic community, representing a network of thousands of stakeholders in the tourism family.


By UNWTO


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