The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development and the 25th joint meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia & Pacific and UNWTO Commission for South Asia at Hyderabad will set the tone for India’s quest to find a prominent slot in the global tourism map.

India is currently the Chair of UNWTO Commission for South Asia which Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are also members. As it would be the joint meeting of both the UNWTO Commissions for South Asia and East Asia & Pacific, the Indian Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi will co-chair the event along with his Malaysian counterpart on April 13-14.

The UNWTO Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development which will take place a day earlier will have the presence of its Secretary General Taleb Rifai.

The event will have the presence of tourism ministers and delegates from East Asia and the Pacific like Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, North Korea, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vanuatu, Vietnam and from Hong Kong and Macau as well.

The uniqueness of the event is the electronic invitation sent to the delegates in the form of a short documentary film showing in advance the venues of the meetings, dinners and tours and all aspects of the itinerary. The documentary film has been produced in the studio of the Indian Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi, who is a Telegu film star of repute.

To give the delegates a glimpse of India’s rich culture and cuisine dinners and cultural programmes have been arranged at Taramati Baradari, Golconda Fort, Shilparamam and Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. The delegates will also be taken on a technical tour to the Buddhist heritage sites at Nagarjuna Sagar and Nagarjuna Konda.

The gala event will also have the presence of the CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Martin Craigs and the President and CEO of World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) David Scowsill.

The UNWTO and WTTC have jointly initiated Global Leaders for Tourism Campaign and have sought India’s help. The basic objective of the campaign is to send a message to the world to accord high priority to the development of tourism for promoting employment opportunities and economic development. Till date 47 countries have joined this campaign. The Campaign’s Open Letter alongwith the testimonials of the Heads of States and Governments who have joined the campaign are being compiled in the Golden Book of Tourism Campaign.

While the tourist arrivals in East Asia and Pacific are high, that of South Asia is low. Despite its rich cultural heritage, architectural and natural marvels, unmatched bio-diversity and being home to almost all the world religions, the market share of South Asia in world tourist arrivals is only 1.3%. However, an encourage development has been noticed in the recent years. The average annual growth in international tourist arrivals in the region in the period 2005-11 has been 7.2% as compared to the world annual average growth of 3.5%. Therefore, India, being a major tourism destination in South Asia has a hope!