Article by Eamonn Fitzgerald on November 11, 2011

The first count of the global vote to elect the New7Wonders of Nature has been announced. In alphabetical order, they are: Amazon, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Jeju Island, Komodo, Puerto Princesa Underground River and Table Mountain.

Announcing the results at the headquarters of the New7Wonders Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland, Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders, said: “I would like to thank the many champions, citizens, voluntary organisations, public bodies and governments that have helped promote the New7Wonders of Nature campaign over the past four years, starting with over 440 locations from over 220 countries and all the way to the 28 Finalist candidates from whom the New7Wonders of Nature have been chosen.”

The results announced this evening are provisional and based on the first count of votes completed since voting ended at 11:11 GMT this morning. The results will now be checked, validated and independently verified. Once the voting validation process is completed, in early 2012, New7Wonders will then work with the confirmed winners to organise the Official Inauguration events.

Note: It may happen that one or more of the provisional winners announced today will not be confirmed during the validation process, New7Wonders will issue a media update should this happen.

“We congratulate each of these participants on achieving their provisional New7Wonders of Nature status, and look forward to completing the confirmation process to celebrate each one in their own Official Inauguration ceremony early in 2012,” said Bernard Weber, adding, “When the New7Wonders of Nature are confirmed they will join the man-made New 7 Wonders of the World in becoming part of Global Memory for humankind for ever.”

Read more about the New 7 wonders of nature ,

This article is quoted from New7Wonders , read the original article here posted on the 11th of November 2011.

The article is uploaded by Majbritt Thomsen, administrator on ‘Views On Tourism’. Please join the online Views On Tourism network and discussion group in order to achieve personal goals as well as encourage a sustainable tourism development in Bangladesh and South Asia. Read more about this group and how to become a member here.

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GDP: Direct Contribution
The direct contribution of Travel &Tourism to GDP is expected to be USD336.9bn (2.4% of total GDP) in 2011, rising by 5.9% pa to USD625.7bn (2.6%) in 2021 (in constant 2011 prices).

GDP: Total Contribution
The total contribution of Travel &Tourism to GDP, including its wider economic impacts, is forecast to rise by 5.9% pa from USD1,071.5bn (7.7% of GDP) in 2011 to USD1,995.5bn (8.6%) by 2021.

Employment: Direct Contribution
Travel & Tourism is expected to support directly 25,663,000 jobs (2.9% of total employment) in 2011, rising by 1.4% pa to 29,480,000 jobs (3.1%) by 2021.

Employment: Total Contribution
The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to employment, including jobs indirectly supported by the industry, is forecast to rise by 2.4% pa from 71,840,000 jobs (8.1% of total employment) in 2011 to 90,779,000 jobs (9.7%) by 2021.

Visitor Exports
Travel & Tourism visitor exports are expected to generateUSD142.6bn (3.2% of total exports) in 2011, growing by 9.4% pa (in nominal terms) to USD240.9bn (2.9%) in 2021.

Investment
Travel & Tourism investment is estimated at USD149.8bn or 3.3% of total investment in 2011. It should rise by 6.4% pa to reach USD287.7bn (or 3.5%) of total investment in 2021.

World ranking (out of 12 regions):
Relative importance of Travel & Tourism’s total contribution to GDP
• 3 ABSOLUTE size
• 9 RELATIVE contribution to national economy
• 3 GROWTH forecast

North East Asia includes China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea Republic of Macau, Taiwan

Download the Travel & Tourism report on North East Asia here

About WTTC
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is the forum for business leaders in the Travel & Tourism industry. With Chief Executives of some one hundred of the world’s leading Travel & Tourism companies as its Members, WTTC has a unique mandate and overview on all matters related to Travel & Tourism.
WTTC works to raise awareness of Travel & Tourism as one of the world’s largest industries, supporting more than 258 million jobs and generating 9.1 per cent of world GDP.

This article is quoted from WTTC . Follow the links and get an overview of 2011 WTTC region reports or country reports.

This article is uploaded by Majbritt Thomsen, administrator on ‘Views On Tourism’.

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GDP: Direct Contribution
The direct contribution of Travel &Tourism to GDP is expected to be USD523.0bn (2.7% of total GDP) in 2011, rising by 5.9% pa to USD953.4bn (2.8%) in 2021 (in constant 2011 prices).

GDP: Total Contribution
The total contribution of Travel &Tourism to GDP, including its wider economic impacts, is forecast to rise by 5.8% pa from USD1,607.4bn (8.2% of GDP) in 2011 to USD2,903.3bn (8.7%) by 2021.

Employment: Direct Contribution
Travel & Tourism is expected to support directly 63,891,000 jobs (3.5% of total employment) in 2011, rising by 1.9% pa to 77,502,000 jobs (3.7%) by 2021.

Employment: Total Contribution
The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to employment, including jobs indirectly supported by the industry, is forecast to rise by 2.4% pa from 145,802,000 jobs (7.9% of total employment) in 2011 to 184,709,000 jobs (8.9%) by 2021.

Visitor Exports
Travel & Tourism visitor exports are expected to generate USD288.6bn (4.3% of total exports) in 2011, growing by 8.3%pa (in nominal terms) to USD496.2bn (3.6%) in 2021.

Investment
Travel & Tourism investment is estimated at USD247.5bn or 4.1% of total investment in 2011. It should rise by 6.7% pa to reach USD482.0bn (or 4.1%) of total investment in 2021.

The Asia Pacific Region includes South Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and Oceania. Download the Travel & Tourism report on Asia Pacific here

About WTTC
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is the forum for business leaders in the Travel & Tourism industry. With Chief Executives of some one hundred of the world’s leading Travel & Tourism companies as its Members, WTTC has a unique mandate and overview on all matters related to Travel & Tourism.
WTTC works to raise awareness of Travel & Tourism as one of the world’s largest industries, supporting more than 258 million jobs and generating 9.1 per cent of world GDP.

This article is quoted from WTTC .
Follow the links and get an overview of 2011 WTTC region reports or country reports.

This article is uploaded by Majbritt Thomsen, administrator on ‘Views On Tourism’. Photos from Thailand by Casper Magnussen.

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Thailand: International visitors to Thailand increased 28.1% in the first six months of 2011 to reach close to 9.7-million arrivals. Key growth markets: Saudi Arabia (+84%), China (+68%) and Hong Kong SAR (+59%). Context: a year ago Thailand’s political crisis deterred many visitors. Big growth now reflects the artificially low benchmark of last year.

Australia: There were 386,600 visitor arrivals during May 2011, an increase of 2.7% relative to May 2010. This lifts Australia’s inbound total to close on 2.4% over the first five months of the year, a gain of 1.6%.

India: India welcomed 2.9-million visitor arrivals in the first six months of 2011, a year-on-year growth of 10.9%. Foreign exchange earnings grew 12.1% when measured in local currency and 14.2% when converted to US dollars.

How is your destination performing in an increasingly competitive world? Read more Follow the link to here.

This article is quoted from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) newsletter July 13 2011.

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Report introduction
Tourism is arguably the world’s largest economic sector, accounting for over 10% of the world’s GDP and employment (WTO, 2002). Moreover, world tourism is expected to continue to grow, creating 5.5 million new jobs annually until the year 2010. In contrast, many rural economies have suffered falling employment and income levels in traditional agrarian industries, contributing to wider economic decline and many social problems. The loss of public services, high unemployment levels and the consequential emigration of younger, better-educated community members have collectively endangered the fabric and structure of rural areas (OECD, 1993).

These factors have led policy planners and rural leaders to actively consider recreation and tourism1 as an economic development base in many rural areas, with farm households in particular, standing to benefit from new demands, via local job creation, environmental protection and enhancement, relatively low investment cost, a wider role for women, and closer urban-rural contact (OECD, 1994; Sharpley and Sharpley, 1997; Sharpley, 2002). In particular, rural tourism may be able to develop remote an d peripheral areas which find it difficult to obtain other development alternatives (Busby and Rendle, 2000; Kline, 2001). The extent of rural tourism is difficult to quantify on an international basis (OECD, 1994), but may comprise 10-20% of all tourism activities (Henegan, 2002).

Together, recreation and tourism may be termed ‘leisure’. Outside the home, the distinction between the two is not always obvious, but the first includes short-term and sometimes non-commercial activities (e.g. walking), while the latter is generally longer-term (e.g. ‘day visitors’ and overnight stays), and usually involves entry charges and/or service payments.

In most countries, tourism is perceived to be only one of a number of feasible options for effective rural development, and needs to be “integrated” with other activities. On the other hand, the remit of the Ministry of Agriculture often includes rural development, which may bias as well as complicate administration, for example focussing on the needs of farmers, rather than across the whole economy.

The striking urbanization of East Asia may be expected to lead to consequences in various forms of outdoor and rural interests, expressed in demands into, out of, and within the region itself. Most ASEAN states have tourism development programmes and/or projects (WTO, annual; Government of Japan, 2004; FFTC, 2005), many of which emphasise the needs of rural areas, such as the alleviation of poverty. Although demand for rural tourism in these countries is growing, the sector may not, without guidance, develop in ways that can best meet wider policy goals – for example, it may concentrate on coastal areas, or in mountains with few farmers, or it may be dominated by national or international businesses which do not much engage the local population and its farm households. Some attractions in rural areas may be under-developed, with potential resources (e.g. farm labour) remaining unused, and local incomes non-maximised, while others may be over-exploited. More generally, the public-good aspects of tourism – good infrastructure and information, landscape beauty and wildlife preservation – require a degree of social organisation which governments can best provide, or at least encourage in its early stages.

The rest of this paper first discusses the economic characteristics of rural tourism and rural tourism policy in general, and then reviews the sector in East As ia, with special focus on the Republic of Korea. A 2004 survey of some 200 rural villages in Korea is described, before conclusions are drawn.

Download the full report here .
By Jae-Ouk Lee Kenneth J. Thomson
Poster paper prepared for presentation at the International Association of Agricultural Economists Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, August 12-18, 2006

This article is quoted from Tourism ROY Newsletter published on 2010-04-06. Follow the green link to read the original article .

The article is uploaded by Majbritt Thomsen, administrator on ‘Views On Tourism’.

Please join the online Views On Tourism network and discussion group in order to achieve personal goals as well as encourage a sustainable tourism development in Bangladesh. Read more about this group and how to become a member here.

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