Mok Singh of Skal International to speak at IIPT 25th Anniversary World Travel Market event

STOWE, Vermont – Mok Singh, Immediate Past President, Skal International will be one of the featured speakers at the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) 25th anniversary commemoration of its First Global Conference, Tourism: A Vital Force for Peace, Vancouver 1988.

The IIPT 25th anniversary commemoration is also in support of the “World War I” Centenary with its theme of “No More War” and takes place at:

World Travel Market’s Platinum Suite stage
Tuesday, November 5, from 1400-1500

Confirmed speakers in addition to Mok Singh include: Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General, UNWTO Secretary General; David Scowsill, President, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC); Geoffrey Lipman, President, International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP); Martin Craigs, President, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Peter DeWilde, CEO of Visit Flanders. Speakers will share their respective perspectives on “Building a Culture of Peace through Tourism” in support of the Great War Centenary theme “No More War.”

IIPT is also proud to announce that award winning singer-songwriter, Alston Koch will join us on stage to perform an original song for the first time. Co- moderators of the event will be Fiona Jeffery OBE – Former Chairman, World Travel Market and Founder and Chairman, Just a Drop; and Anita Mendiratta, Founder & Managing Director, CACHET Consulting.

The IIPT 25th Anniversary commemorative event will also honor members of the travel and tourism industry who have made a significant contribution to promoting a “Culture of Peace through Tourism.”

IIPT Founder and President said, “IIPT is most proud to support the Great War Centenary with its theme of ‘No More War’ – and to welcome the foremost leaders of the travel and tourism industry to our 25th anniversary event. As one of the world’s largest and fastest growing industries, the collective voice of travel and tourism leaders can be a powerful force for peace and justice in the 21st century.”

“And as well, we are most pleased in having this opportunity to acknowledge individuals and organizations who have substantially contributed to building a ‘Culture of Peace through Tourism’ – and to thank them for advancing the IIPT vision of travel and tourism becoming the ‘World’s first Global Peace Industry’ – an industry that promotes and supports the belief that every traveler is potentially and ‘Ambassador for Peace.’”

The 1988 Vancouver Conference was a watershed event for the travel and tourism industry introducing for the first time the concept of Sustainable Tourism, four years prior to the Rio Summit – together with a new “higher purpose of tourism” paradigm that includes the key role of travel and tourism in:

– Promoting international understanding
– Collaboration among nations
– Protecting the environment and preserving biodiversity
– Enhancing cultures and valuing heritage
– Sustainable development for all
– Poverty reduction and
– Reconciliation and healing wounds of conflict

Please join us at:

World Travel Market Platinum Suites 3 & 4
Tuesday, November 5, from 1400-1500

IIPT is dedicated to fostering and facilitating tourism initiatives that contribute to international understanding and cooperation, an improved quality of environment, the preservation of heritage, poverty reduction, and the resolution of conflict – and through these initiatives, help bring about a more peaceful and sustainable world. IIPT is dedicated to mobilizing travel and tourism, the world’s largest industry, as the world’s first “Global Peace Industry,” an industry that promotes and supports the belief that “Every traveler is potentially an Ambassador for Peace.”
www.iipt.org