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WTO WARMLY WELCOMES
AUSTRALIA'S TOURISM WHITE PAPER AND ITS DECISION TO
REJOIN WTON
The World Tourism
Organization (WTO) on Thursday warmly welcomed the
Tourism White Paper launched by the Australian
Prime Minister, John Howard, and expressed
satisfaction at Australia's decision to rejoin
WTO.
The World Tourism
Organization congratulated the Australian
Government on the publication of its Tourism White
Paper and warmly welcomed the announcement by Prime
Minister John Howard of a 235 million Australian
dollar funding package to implement the proposals
it contains.
"The White Paper
and the Prime Minister's statement are the
culmination of a process of integrated and
consultative forward-looking planning," said WTO
Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli. "WTO
strongly advocates interactive cooperation between
tourism stakeholders and governments as the
foundation of any successful tourism industry.
Australia's Tourism White Paper is an excellent
example of such a productive partnership, ably
engineered and led by Small Business and Tourism
Minister Joe Hockey".
"The announcement
by the Prime Minister," continued Mr Frangialli,
"confirms the Australian Government's recognition
of the growing importance of tourism as a leading
force in the service sector that is set to drive
the world economy over the next few decades. It
constitutes a clear message from the Australian
authorities that they award a high priority to
tourism and are committed to raising the capacity
and performance of their already successful tourism
industry to new and higher levels".
"Mr. Hockey must be
congratulated on his vision and perseverance in
initiating and leading this process to its
completion. As a government tourism strategy paper
the Australian document has undoubtedly raised the
standards and set new benchmarks. The Tourism White
Paper will be widely studied and will influence
thinking and policymaking in many
countries".
Mr. Frangialli
added: "The World Tourism Organization is
particularly happy and proud to welcome Australia
back to full membership. It is a most appropriate
time for Australia to return to WTO, a worldwide
intergovernmental body which has now been granted
the status of a specialized agency of the United
Nations. This decision, taken by the United Nations
General Assembly in New York on 7 November 2003, is
a clear recognition of the importance and value of
tourism. It firmly places tourism on an equal
footing with other principal activities of human
society such as agriculture, education, health,
industry, culture and labour - all of them already
represented in specialized agencies of the
UN."
"We welcome
Australia back in the Organization as a key player
and one of the leading counties in Asia-Pacific -
the fastest growing tourism region in the world. As
a member of WTO, Australia will be able to
influenceinternational thinking and policymaking
and contribute to the sustainable
development of
tourism in fields where it has demonstrated
leading-edge
knowledge and
experience. Finally, Australia will also benefit
from the
international
interaction with tourism decision makers from
around the
world and the
specialized assistance offered by WTO to its
Members," stated
the
Secretary-General in conclusion.
For further
information contact:
Rok Klancnik/Alla
Peressolova, WTO Press and Communications
Section,
comm@world-tourism.org,
Tel. (+34) 91-567-8191, (+34) 91-567-8193,
Fax: (+34)
91-567-8218, www.world-tourism.org
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