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Bhutan's
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SOUTH
ASIAN MEDIA COMMIT TO SUPPORT GOVERNMENTS IN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
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MADRID/KATHMANDU,
NEPAL, 1 September 2005
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| Tourism
media from South Asia have responded eagerly to the proposal of the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) and Nepal Tourist Board (NTB) to work together in
pursuing sustainable development and poverty alleviation through tourism.
This
follows a meeting held in the Nepalese capital from 26-27 August, organised
by ADB and NTB and supported by the World Tourism organisation, at which
press representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal met with
government officials to evaluate possibilities for closer cooperation in
the promotion of tourism, crisis communications and the ongoing fight against
poverty. |
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The
main objective of the workshop was to strengthen the relationship between
the media and the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)
Programme, to enable the press to make a direct contribution to encouraging
tourism in the sub-region, informing travel writers and focusing the media
in general on the importance of tourism as an economic activity and the
sustainability issues involveed.
Much
of the discussion was geared to regional cooperation among the four countries,
especially between the media and the public and the private sectors.
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workshop was opened by the Nepalese Minister of Foreign Affairs Ramesh
Nath Pandey who stressed the need for governments to recognise the importance
of the media in tourism development and his country's commitment to pursuing
tourism as its main economic activity.
Imtiaz
Muqbil, Executive Editor of the Bangkok-based Travel Impact Newswire, said
that huge investment plans were already under way in Asia such as the Chinese
highway system and India's rapid air-traffic expansion. |
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He predicted a
great opportunity for sub-regional development through the new Buddhist
circle project, which will connect all the countries
The
four countries are all members of SASEC, one of whose main aims is to reduce
the plight of the region's poorer citizens. They account for some 500 million
people out of an estimated 900 million poor people in Asia and the Pacific.
"South
Asia is one of the poorest and most densely populated areas in the world.
However, because of the region's unique endowment of resources, it can
be transformed into a leading sub region of economic growth," said ADB
country director Sultan Hafeez Rahman.
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| "It's
good to see that governments and international organisations recognise
the importance of our work," commented Rahman Janagir, a journalist from
Bangladesh. It was on his initiative that delegates agreed to establish
a South Asia Forum of Tourism Journalists (SAFTOJ), to which WTO will act
as advisor.
Nepal's
Assistant Minister for Culture, Tourism and Aviation, Ms Yankila Sherpa,
said the "success of (staging) such a demanding event and its outcomes
confirm that Nepali tourism is alive and dynamic". |
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"It
is true that there are security problems in remote parts of our country.
However, tourism moves on and we ask the media to also highlight this part
of reality". Nepal's attractions include the highest mountain in the world,
Mt. Everest, and a string of UNESCO world heritage sites that include seven
in the Kathmandu valley alone as well as Lumbini, the birthplace of Siddhartha
Gautama (Lord Buddha).
WTO
Chief of Press and CommunicationsRok Klancnik spoke of the phenomenal expansion
of world tourism, while highlighting the vital need for crisis communications,
a topic which countries should pay much more attention to, he added.
"Enhancing
government - media relationship and increasing capacity in the wide range
of tourism communications, including crisis management and the role of
the media in poverty alleviation, is at the heart of the TOURCOM Programme,
which is itself central to WTO Press and Communications activities."
Source:
World Tourism organisation (WTO)
| International
Tourism Receipts by Country of Destination |
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Tourism
Market Trends, 2004 Edition
| Source:
World Tourism organisation (WTO) © |
(Data
as collected by WTO December 2004) |
| International
Tourist Arrivals by Country of Destination |
|
Tourism
Market Trends, 2004 Edition
| Source:
World Tourism organisation (WTO) |
(Data
as collected by WTO December 2004) |
| Information on Bhutan |
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