Make tourism benefit the poor, says Secretary-General

Speaking at the opening of the Commonwealth Tourism Ministers Meeting at Marlborough House in London 12 November 2008, Mr Sharma said that "the traditional approach of taxing tourism to generate national revenue, does not guarantee that the revenue will directly benefit the poor."

"Direct employment of poor people in tourism is seen as one way of addressing poverty through tourism. But then, we need to ensure that proper wages are paid and proper laws observed," the Secretary-General said.

Mr Sharma noted that while the principle of making tourism benefit the poor begun with the 1999 UN Commission on Sustainable Development, which urged governments to maximise the potential of tourism for eradication of poverty, "good principle does not always mean good practice."

The Secretary-General also said that there is need to develop local skills, giving an example of Southern Africa and the Caribbean regions, where the Commonwealth has helped member countries to develop national strategies to develop human resources in the tourism sector.

The ministers discussed ways of addressing the challenges of the current economic crisis on the sector, and shared experiences and best practices of how to handle the negative effects.

While pointing out that the exact impact of how much tourism-from the richer world to the poorer-will be cut due to the financial crisis, the Secretary-General said that it is important for countries to recognise the need to encourage tourists from domestic and regional markets."

"I am on record as calling the poorer countries the 'collateral damage' of the present crisis," he said.

For full speech of the Secretary-General's Speech click here