Tourism hailed as way to realize goals

Wuzhen is a beautiful area that is representative of Jiangnan (the area south of the Yangtze River) and its old towns.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The declaration issued at the end of the seventh G20 Tourism Ministers Meeting agreed to further encourage the G20 to consider travel and tourism as important sectors in delivering the objective of the G20 of building new sources of growth and development.

G20 leaders will meet in September in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

United Nation World Tourism Organization Secretary-General Taleb Rifai said he hopes the Meeting of G20 Tourism Ministers will help "shed some light and devise some common actions that support their agenda toward an 'Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy'".

"Today, the global economic recovery continues but has weakened," Rifai said. "At the same time, we face high levels of unemployment and growing inequality as stressed by the Chinese G20 Agenda.

"Tourism is one of the most dynamic, resilient and interconnected sectors of the global economy. In 2015, despite increasing global challenges, 50 million more people traveled abroad compared with the previous year. For this reason, tourism is without doubt one sector better positioned to support the G20 in its quest for new ways to drive development and creative policy ideas."

Rifai said tourism should contribute to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 universal Sustainable Development Goals. "Tourism has been included in three of the Sustainable Development Goals," he added. "Yet tourism, crosscutting nature and with a multiplier effect on many other sectors, is a perfect fit to advance all 17 Goals."