A high-level meeting in the Canary Islands next week will focus on the potential of tourism -- the world´s fastest-growing industry - in the 49 least developed countries.
The meeting (26-29 March) is being organized by UNCTAD with the financial cooperation of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and the Council of Transport and Tourism of the Canary Islands, in collaboration with the World Tourism Organization. It is part of the preparatory process for the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (Brussels, 14-20 May).
Although the LDCs account for only 0.8% of the world´s total exports of international tourism services, tourism is regarded as one of the sectors offering the greatest potential for steady economic growth in these countries, and one of the few economic areas expected to reduce their marginalization from the global economy. In 18 LDCs, tourism is already a prominent economic sector, ranking first, second or third among all export sectors. In 10 other LDCs, tourism has been a less prominent but growing area of activity demonstrating significant progress over the last decade. Well over half of all LDCs have placed international tourism at the heart of their development strategy and expect the sector to be a spearhead of their economic re-specialization. But their structural disadvantages (poverty, lack of skilled human resources and infrastructure, economic vulnerability) prevent them from benefiting from international tourism as significantly as they would like. Accordingly, they hope the international community will be able to support their efforts to participate in the international tourism economy.
The meeting will examine the main trends in the tourism development performance of the LDCs, with particular reference to the role of tourism in the evolution of the economic specialization of these countries. The various handicaps and limitations they face in developing tourism activities will be highlighted in order to allow effective identification of solutions. The meeting will then focus on the most desirable tourism development policies and strategies to be pursued or envisaged by the LDCs, in such areas as product specialization, investment, promotion and multilateral trade policy. The ultimate aim is to identify the main practical needs of LDCs with regard to tourism development and recommend a range of ways in which the international community can meet these needs. This is expected to facilitate the formulation of an international plan of action to support tourism development in the LDCs. This plan of action will be presented to the conference in Brussels.
Participating in the meeting will be four government ministers and over 30 senior officials responsible for tourism development policies in LDCs, as well as officials and experts from other countries and representatives of international and regional organizations. The meeting will take place at the Maspalomas Convention and Exhibition Centre in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.
