(TAN): For the first time in the 40-year history of World Tourism Day, the official celebration was not hosted by a single member state of the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Instead, nations from the Mercosur bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with Chile joining with observer status) served as joint hosts.
This co-hosting agreement marked international solidarity, an imminent need of the pandemic-stricken world.
Uruguay Tourism Minister German Cardoso said that tourism was the main revenue generator in the country. He said, “Our… administration plans a strategic boost in the sustainable tourism development of the country and its destinations… like beaches… hot springs, cruises, cultural, rural and ecological based on a mutual and articulated public-private management.”
Taking forward the tune of sustainable development, Matias Lammens, the tourism Minister of Argentina, said that the pandemic has highlighted the importance of our relationship with nature. The entire South American region, a treasure trove of natural heritage, is suitably placed to capitalise on this and build up on nature tourism, he said.
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Brazil Tourism Minister Marcelo Alvaro Antonio said, “Rural tourism is one of the top prospects of our sector,” and called on the world to show that “tourism is not is not a villain of the pandemic.”
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Sofia Monitiel, minister-executive secretary, Paraguay, emphasized tourism as an “essential pillar of the 2030 agenda” and that it is very important for “sustainable development, giving participation to women, youth and indigenous communities as the main actors.” She stressed on the role of tourism to overcome the pandemic by acting in a “safe way, protecting the environment.”
Chile’s Undersecretary of Tourism Jose Luis Uriate said Chile and promised to “promote tourism with an emphasis on rural development.” He expressed hope that the world together will succeed in healing the damage caused by the pandemic.
