Celebrating World Tourism Day

Today is World Tourism Day (WTD) 2012, which is being held under the theme “Tourism & Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development.”Travel organizations from around the world are celebrating the day with official celebrations taking place in Maspalomas, Spain. According to World Tourism Organization officials, this year’s theme aims to highlight tourism’s role in a brighter energy future; a future in which the world’s entire population has access to modern, efficient and affordable energy services. Tourism, one of the world’s largest economic sectors, has already taken important steps towards this future – improving energy efficiency and increasingly using renewable energy technologies in its operations. These steps are creating jobs, lifting people out of poverty and helping to protect the planet. “As we celebrate World Tourism Day 2012, I urge all tourism stakeholders – governments, businesses and tourists themselves – to play their part in reaching the UN goal of achieving sustainable energy for all by 2030 and position tourism at the centre of the clean energy economies of the future,”commented Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General. (http://wtd.unwto.org)