UNWTO ‘celebrates' its seventeenth General Assembly as tourism becomes Colombia's ‘passion'

By Nelson Alcantara
The United Nations World Tourism Organization is in the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena to hold its seventeenth General Assembly.
Cartagena, Colombia (eTN) – Various members of governments from around the world are meeting here in the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena de Indias this week to participate in the seventeenth General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The UNWTO General Assembly commenced Saturday, November 23, and is scheduled to finish on Thursday, November 29.

"The celebration of UNWTO's General Assembly can be regarded as an endorsement of the tourism policy of the host country," UNWTO secretary-general Francesco Frangialli. "In the past, we have witnessed how tourism arrivals grew after this most important event of then global tourism family."

Enough reason why Colombia has rolled out the red carpet for UNWTO's biennial event. "Colombia is consolidating its position as a new destination with tourism taking off strongly, proving that it has probably one of the biggest tourism potentials of South America, from mountains to the Amazon, with two different coasts and a vibrating culture," added Frangialli.

On that note, Frangialli said, "We certainly hope to contribute to the further international positioning of Cartagena and Colombia."

As a means to highlight Colombia's renewed commitment to developing its tourism product, the South American destination has come up with the slogan, "Colombia is passion."

For his part, Colombian Trade Industry and Tourism Minister Luis Guillermo Plata said, "Playing host to the biennial event, which brings together the tourism authorities of more than 150 countries, as well as the business sector of this important sector of the economy didn't just happen." According to him, it is the result of a "constant effort to improve our image, supported by the obvious advances taking place in Colombia in areas such as security, the economy and social policies."

He added: "We are confident that the agenda being discussed here in Cartagena will lead the way to facilitating training, education and an exchange of experiences that will offer the participants tools that will help in the task of consolidating tourism as one of the leading sectors of national economic development."

High on the agenda for this edition of the UNWTO come very clear that the UNWTO is setting its focus on three very important challenges in today's tourism industry–poverty, sustainable tourism and climate change. Of these issues, UN Secretary- General said he "commends the UNWTO" for coming up with this agenda.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said, "This is a great opportunity for us." He thanked the UNWTO secretary-general for facilitating Colombia's hosting of the UNWTO General Assembly, calling him a "great ally for us." He also said that while much more needs to be done, his country has come a long way from the days when local residents were apprehensive about leaving their houses.

Colombia's aim in hosting this edition of UNWTO's General Assembly is to launch the country's latest tourism marketing campaign in hopes of luring 5 million foreign visitors by 2010.

November 27, 2007   Posted in: South America