PRESS CONFERENCE BY NGOS AND TRADE UNIONS ON OUTCOME OF DIALOGUE ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY NGOS AND TRADE UNIONS ON OUTCOME OF DIALOGUE ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

There had finally been a flag that there was an interest in workplace- based partnerships for education, action and planning on implementation measures within the tourism industry, Lucien Royer, representative of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to the seventh session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, told a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

It was a welcome sign that there was an unfolding stakeholder process in discussions on the tourism industry and indications that there would be recognition of core labour standards enabling the participation of workers and trade unions, he said. His organization was happy about the proposed focus on the role of trade unions in educating their workers who would become tourists and those who worked within the industry. The latter, in turn, would be enabled to educate tourists who would be serviced by them. He noted that there was an arrangement with tourism industry partners that meetings would be held following the Commission's session to examine those areas where they could work together. The objective was to develop joint programmes globally with employers to educate and develop mechanisms where consumptive tourism behaviour would be changed.

Angela Kalisch, of the Tourism Concern UK, said many communities in those countries that were tourist destinations were satisfied with the multi- stakeholder approach presently being undertaken at the session, as they felt they were not sufficiently involved in the industry which, though it originated in developed countries, occurred in their own homes. Some areas of the industry created poverty by reducing access to resources available to the community, for example, energy and water, while others, especially within the environmental sector, were making efforts towards its eradication. As a result, it had become necessary to shift the emphasis to issues relevant to those communities, their cultures and land. Dialogue should be held with local officials so that the communities could have control over their own tourism operations. Therefore, tourism would be perceived as economically empowering to those communities rather than as a creator of poverty.

However, she noted that although there had been great progress, there was a stark difference between what was being discussed at the session, proposals that had been made in many worthwhile declarations like Agenda 21 for the travel and tourism industry, and what local people actually experienced in their destinations on the ground. Responding to a question from a correspondent about concerns of the trade unions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that had not been addressed during the session, she said there were people grappling with the fact hotels were being established on their land, thus threatening their livelihoods.

ICFTU Press Conference - 2 - 21 April 1999

A correspondent asked what proposals were in place to counter aviation emissions which had serious environmental consequences. Mr. Royer stated that, at the moment, there had been an agreement that there needed to be multi-stakeholder involvement at defining the actual targets in the transportation industry.

In response to a question on the implementation of financial and economic mechanisms, he noted that this was indeed a weakness and there was a need for an appropriate mix that would not conflict with other sustainable development objectives. There was also a need for a strong regulatory framework within which those mechanisms would have to operate. This framework ought to be brought into a context in a way that stakeholders could actually deal with in defining objectives.

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