Silk Road: The Most Important Transnational Tourism Route of the 21st Century
The 8th UNWTO Silk Road Ministers' Meeting held during the ITB Berlin Travel Trade Show, focused on the long-term tourism vision for the historic Silk Road routes and how to establish the Silk Road as the most important transnational tourism route of the 21st century.
With the theme "2025 Silk Road Tourism Agenda"; the Ministers and Heads of the National Tourism Administrations shared their main ideas and strategies, which bring together 34 countries, Malaysia having become the latest member to join this initiative spearheaded by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
"Our joint work on placing the Silk Road as an internationally renowned and seamless cultural tourism route is proving to be very positive. In countries all along the Silk Road, there is growing awareness of tourism's contribution to cultural preservation, regional cohesion, and intercultural understanding", said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pollikashvili, during the meeting. "Cross-country tourism projects are growing, and the interest of trade and consumers in the Silk Road continues to rise", he added.
Primarily associated with inland routes, the historic Silk Road also comprised an extensive network of maritime itineraries linking various cultures. Against this backdrop, UNWTO has assessed the tourism potential of Maritime Silk Road thematic routes across Asia and took the occasion of this year's meeting to present the research study "Tourism Impact of the 21st century Maritime Silk Road", jointly developed with Sunny International.
UNWTO's work around the Silk Road aims to maximize the benefits of tourism development for local Silk Road communities, while stimulating investment and promoting the conservation of the route's natural and cultural heritage.
While Silk Road destinations stand to benefit from the persistent strong growth of international tourism, putting sustainability and trans-border cooperation first will be key to fully develop its benefits. The conclusions of the Silk Road Ministers Meeting will be further specified during the 8th UNWTO Silk Road Task Force Meeting in Turkey in April, and during the 8th UNWTO International Meeting on Silk Road Tourism in Greece in October 2018.
About UN Tourism
The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.
Our Priorities
Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.
Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.
Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.
Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.
Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.
Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.
Our Structure
Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.
Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.
Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.
Marcelo Risi
UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme
(+34) 91 567 81 60
UN Tourism
