Event roundup

Celebrating women world over

Express TravelWorld represented by its associate editor was the only Indian media to be a part of the special think tank at UNWTO’s World Tourism Day round table. The magazine was acknowledged by the UNWTO for its September, 2007 issue which was devoted to the women in the tourism industry. A report

ETW Staff - Bentota

Geoffrey Lipman - UNWTO Assistant Secretary General acknowledging Express TravelWorld’s initiative to devote the September 2007 issue to the theme of women empowerment

Sri Lanka was the host for the World Tourism Day 2007 in Bentota and this year it was an occasion to celebrate women's achievements in the tourism sector and stimulate continuous action in support of UN's 3rd Millennium Development Goal: Promoting Gender Equality and Women Empowerment through to 2015 and beyond.

This year on the occasion of World Tourism Day, a think tank seminar was conducted on 'the role of women in tourism' in accordance to this year's theme Tourism Opening Doors for Women and its inter-relationship with the UN Millennium Development Goals. Under the chairpersonship of H E Nilofar Bakhatiar, the discussion hovered around the importance of women in the tourism sector, improvement in the role of women in tourism and accentuating the role of women particularly in developing countries.

The issues

The seminar went into more details as to the need to create awareness about various opportunities available to women in the field particularly agro-tourism, ecotourism, health and wellness as well as branches more creative. Concerns were raised for the need to create appropriate economic policy frameworks with tourism as a primary component. The discussion then moved on to the requirement of open doors for women even in terms of training, development programmes and family support structures. This is crucial to develop and ensure self-respect to women. The value of showcasing women with fulfilling jobs at all levels, as well as those showing leadership and career progression. This went on to broader action on gender equality and of UNWTO, with the support of UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women), championing this issue, as well as the importance of carrying this forward into a defined programme and action plan.

The role of media and NGOs also is important for the entire tourism sector. There is a fundamental requirement for the public sector to put in place and implement legislation for equal opportunity, equal pay and fair working conditions. It is therefore important to getting the diverse private sector actively involved as well as NGOs and the media.

The discussion went further to discuss the danger of self-delusion in considering primarily the beneficial aspects of tourism and women while ignoring the darker side of exploitation, harassment, abuse and marginalization. Going on to discuss the significance of increased access to credit facilities to encourage women entrepreneurs, and the proven reliability of women in meeting the conditions and then the absence of reliable information at a global, regional and national level, and the importance of such information for effective decision making & monitoring.

The conclusion

Against this background of these topics the conclusions reached were to initiate an annual forum to establish a broader biennial worldwide conference and UNWTO - UNIFEM annual report on the state of Women in Tourism. To foster a network of activists, ambassadors and advocates to support the work of the UNWTO Special Advisor on Women in Tourism, and the establishment of a task force to develop a draft Programme of Activity. There also has to be a data collection system in place including desk research, case studies and alignment with the Tourism Satellite Account where feasible as well as create a website www.tourismgender.com for gathering and presenting information, and serving as a framework for continuing focus.

There has to be a development with partners for awareness campaign aimed at the industry, governments, media and women themselves, as well as the creation of a global awards scheme. And UNWTO as well as it member states need to take up affirmative action within their power to actively involve women, from all social, economic and cultural spheres, into strategy, policy and operational decision making. Finally, urgency needs to be seen on the emphasis for a Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.

World Tourism Day is commemorated on 27 September each year by appropriate events on themes selected by UNWTO's General Assembly, on recommendation of the Executive Council. This date was chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes on 27 September 1970 and designated as World Tourism Day by the UN General Assembly.

India initiative

Back in India, World Tourism Day was celebrated by opening doors for women by giving an opportunity to 30 women to start taxi services in Mumbai. Sujata Thakur, regional director (Western and Central Region), Indiatourism said, "Moves like these will empower the women of this country and I hope that in the coming years these women are successful and have their own fleet." A suggestion was raised as to bring the bed & breakfast scheme in the forefront and given importance to further empower the woman of the country.

In addition, Indiatourism along with the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry also revived the 150 years old tradition of the bandstands in the city of Mumbai. Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, minister for rural development and tourism, Maharashtra state stressed upon the need of public-private partnership for making Mumbai one of the leading tourist destinations in the world. A debut live performance by the police band was held at the bandstand, Hanging Garden (Kamala Nehru Udyan), Malabar Hill in Mumbai. "We are currently tying up permissions and will then approach corporate houses to adopt individual bandstands. We are looking at starting regular performances either from October 15 or November 1 to be held every Saturday," added Thakur.

Ranjit Shahani, president, Bombay Chamber, said, "Mumbai city had a great tradition of bandstands since 1850s. They were great attraction for the public in Mumbai. The Bombay Chamber's Tourism committee in association with Indiatourism, Mumbai has taken an initiative to revive the culture of bandstands. At present, Bombay Chamber is aiming at reviving two bandstands - Girgaon Chowpatty bandstand and the Hanging Garden bandstand. It is proposed that the police band, Bombay Municipal Corporation band, selected college bands will be invited for performance over the weekends. The Chamber will also co-ordinate with the Indian Navy for performance by the Central Naval Band on selective occasions. The Bombay Chamber intends to make such band recitals a regular feature and is in talks with Municipal Corporation of Brihan Mumbai for permissions".

Through the joint efforts, the following bandstands are to be revived: Chowpatty seafront (in the gardens fronting Mumbai Garage), Victoria Garden at Byculla (now Jijamata Udyan), Sir Pherozeshah Mehta Garden (popularly known as Hanging Garden), Joseph Baptista Garden on Mazgaon Hill, King's Circle Garden (Maheshwari Udyan) at Sion and Parsi Colony in Dadar.