NADI, Fiji, June 18, (Xinhua) – The 30th Joint
Commissions Meeting of the United Nation’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
started on Monday in Fiji’s third largest city of Nadi, focusing on climate
change, biodiversity and sustainable tourism development.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, Fiji’s
Minister for Tourism, Faiyaz Koya, said that hosting the meeting in the Pacific
for the first time was crucial for the region.
The three-day meeting, which is being attended
by the countries such as Fiji, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Tuvalu, Vanuatu,
Australia and Papua New Guinea, was an opportunity for Fiji and the pacific to
showcase tourism opportunities, Koya said.
The minister added that it is an opportunity
to show the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) which is the United Nations
agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and
universally accessible tourism what Fiji and the region can offer in tourism
products.
Koya said that at the same time the meeting
highlighted the challenges that the nations in this region face due to climate
change.
Tourism in Fiji and the Pacific is a vital
contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs a large number of
Pacific citizens.
In Fiji’s case for example, the tourism sector
contributes at least 30 percent to the GDP and employs 1 in 3 persons in the
workforce.
Koya said that it was this very livelihood
that was being adversely affected by climate change caused by unsustainable
practices around the world.
The Pacific region is the smallest
contributors to global warming.
“However, we are the ones that are
affected the most by climate change, raising sea level that not only affects
sectors such as tourism but also affects arable land,” Koya said.
Therefore, the Regional Seminar on Climate
Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism Development being held in the
margins of the Joint Commissions Meeting is timely.
Through this seminar, Koya said that the
Pacific Island countries needed to bring to the forefront the challenges faced
by the region.
Fiji’s Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama,
said in a message for the meeting that the economic engine of global tourism
has changed the lives of millions of people across the Asia Pacific region.
As UNWTO partners, they are all committed to
the pursuit of responsible, ethnical and sustainable tourism development in the
Asia Pacific region.
GNA