Reacting to the financial crisis while ensuring sustainability – Cebu Resolution 2008

CEBU, Philippines/Madrid -­ The Sixth International Tourism Forum for Parliamentarians and Local Authorities (Cebu, Philippines, October 22-24, 2008) brought together almost 400 representatives from

CEBU, Philippines/Madrid -­ The Sixth International Tourism Forum for Parliamentarians and Local Authorities (Cebu, Philippines, October 22-24, 2008) brought together almost 400 representatives from 78 countries.
The participants reviewed the key factors affecting tourism and how national and local governments can contribute to respond to the current economic challenges while not losing sight of long-term, sustainability goals.

The program of the forum was structured around:

– Major challenges of tourism development
– Communication and ethics in tourism
– Economic knowledge of tourism at the local level
– Measurement of employment in the tourism sector

Officials and representatives of parliaments and local governments met with members of the private sector, reflecting the important role which national, regional. and local governments have contributing to sustainable tourism.

The Forum was held under the auspices of the UNWTO and the government of the Philippines, who unanimously agreed on the following resolution:

Cebu Resolution

1. Request the Secretary-General to instruct the “Resilience Committee” (former Crisis Committee) of UNWTO to give urgent attention to all appropriate measures that could assist countries regarding the negative impacts the present financial crisis may have on their tourism industries.

2. Encourage parliaments and local authorities to consider the implementation of the recommendations of the Davos Declaration and to set up appropriate programs and projects that will enable their tourism sector to respond to the global challenges of climate change.

3. Urge governments and all stakeholders in the tourism sector to implement in appropriate ways the principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism in their country and in their various business activities.

4. Request UNWTO to deliver general guidelines on measuring tourism at the regional and local levels regarding basic statistics, the tourism satellite account, and the economic analysis of the contribution that tourism makes at those levels.

5. Call upon local and regional tourism authorities to implement these general guidelines by allocating approximately two percent of their budget for tourism promotion to achieve those objectives.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...