U.N. looks to tourism to help developing countries

A greater emphasis on tourism in international development efforts in 2007 will do much to help alleviate poverty in developing nations, the United Nations said, as reported by UPI on Thursday.

With global tourism expected to increase by 4 percent in 2007, according to U.N. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates, UNWTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli is enthusiastic about prospects for the industry. “The tourism sector is the largest common area of export income and foreign direct investment across the world’s poorest countries,” Frangialli said. “Tourism to these countries is growing at twice the rate of industrialized markets. No sector spreads wealth and jobs across poor economies in the same way as tourism.”

This year, the UNWTO plans to hold a “Tourism and Religion” world summit in Spain and expand their “eTourism” projects in collaboration with Microsoft.

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