The Views On Tourism Project celebrate 3 year anniversary, 300.000 blog visitors and 750 group members. Uniting the right people generates the resources, knowledge and visions to encourage a positive local tourism development in Bangladesh and South Asia.

This project started in 2008 as a Danish expat volunteer initiative in Bangladesh to support the emerging sustainable awareness. The blog provides knowledge and inspiration to the Bangladeshi tourism sector, nearby South Asian countries, developing countries or destinations facing similar challenges. The network group makes an online communication platform for the sustainable tourism stakeholders related to Bangladesh and South Asia.

I welcome you to use the Views On Tourism Project to increase knowledge, share best practice, spread information, make comments, announce events, start discussions, network and cooperate.

Furthermore I encourage you to please support a fantastic project, which is fighting poverty through positive tourism development.
Crowdsourced Travel Bangladesh is a community-powered collective that provides information, marketing and travel media services to ‘unusual’ destinations often overlooked by the world travel community.
Your donation will make a difference.

I wish you a happy and sustainable new year in 2012.

Yours faithfully Majbritt Thomsen, initiator the Views On Tourism Project

For further information please follow these links:
Views On Tourism – Knowledge and Inspiration Blog.
Views On Tourism – Network and Discussion Group.
Crowdsourced Travel Bangladesh – Campaign in Progress.

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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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The positive momentum of the previous months held strong for Southeast Asia, which led the region with 15.5% growth during the month of June. The rebound in arrivals to Thailand (+54%) positively impacted this overall result, strongly supported by the other reporting destinations in this sub-region all of which enjoyed double-digit growth. This in turn was supported by strong travel demand within ASEAN and an increase in arrivals from China.

International arrivals growth to South Asia was a robust 12% in June, boosted by double-digit increases in inbound numbers to Nepal (+38%), the Maldives (+27%) and Sri Lanka (+20%). India maintained the same pace of growth seen in the previous month at 7%. European arrivals are amongst the main contributors to this growth.

Northeast Asia saw an improvement after posting slow growth of 0.6% in May, with a 3.7% increase in arrivals for June 2011. This growth, however, was very unevenly distributed among destinations in the sub-region. Tourism demand to Japan continued to recover, reducing losses in inbound arrivals from -63% in April to -50% in May and -36% in June. Chinese Taipei (-2%) and China (+1%) registered weak results while Hong Kong SAR (+16%), Macau SAR (+15%) and Korea (ROK) (+11%) enjoyed buoyant growth for the month, supported by the key origin market of China.

It should be remembered that even though the percentage growth rate may be relatively weaker than for other sub-regions, the sheer volume of arrivals to Northeast Asia means that 3.7% growth directly translates into more than 600,000 additional arrivals for the month.

International Arrivals to the Pacific recorded an aggregate decline of 4% in June. The main destinations of Australia (-4%) and New Zealand (-10%) showed significant decreases compared to the corresponding period last year. This downturn was caused – in part at least – by the ash cloud disruption to air travel from the Chilean volcano together with the continued effects of the earthquake in Christchurch. Nevertheless, some Pacific Island nations still managed to show positive growth, especially Palau (+63%), Vanuatu (+27%), Tahiti (+19%), Papua New Guinea (+16%), New Caledonia (+11%) and Cook Island (+8%).

January to June 2011
Of the 31 destinations reporting half-year arrivals (January to June 2011), 26 indicted positive growth, with 14 showing double-digit gains. Clear growth leaders over this period were Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand with gains of 37%, 29% and 28% respectively (January to June, year-on-year).

Collectively, these 31 destinations generated growth of 5.3% for the Asia/Pacific region during the first half of 2011. Even with the loss of almost 1.4 million arrivals to Japan, this cluster of destinations collectively not only countered that contraction but managed to add enough additional arrivals to the collective count to post a year-on-year gain of more than eight million international arrivals.

Kris Lim, Director of PATA’s Strategic Intelligence Centre, said: “The first-half year growth of around 5%, given the challenges the industry has faced so far this year underlines the resilience of travel and tourism in the Asia/Pacific region. The comparatively weaker economies of the USA and Europe mean that much of this growth has had to come from intra-regional travel and this in turn has only been possible because of the stronger regional economies and the continued expansion of airline seat capacity within the region.”

Lim added that at the current rate of growth, overall arrivals to the region will push to the 433 million mark by the end of the year, up from 408 million last year. The majority of the Asia/Pacific destinations will once again look at record numbers of arrivals, led by South Asia and Southeast Asia destinations in terms of percentage growth.

“While European arrivals remain key to South Asia’s growth, Southeast Asia will be driven by the rapidly growing China and India outbound markets while Northeast Asia is expected to see strong gains in arrivals from Southeast Asia driven by the steadily growing LCC network,” said Lim.

1)Asia/Pacific is defined as including the following sub-regions for the purposes of press releases:

For more market trends and insights, please visit www.pata.org/sub-regional-trends-2011

-ENDS-

Issued by:PATA Communications,
Bangkok, Thailand.
Tel: +66 2 658 2000
E-mail: communications@PATA.org
Online newsroom: www.pata.org/Press
Follow PATA on Twitter and Facebook

About PATA
The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a not-for profit membership association that acts as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism within the Asia Pacific region. This year, PATA is proud to celebrate 60 dynamic years of developing responsible tourism.

In partnership with private and public sector members, PATA enhances the sustainable growth, value and quality of travel and tourism to-from-and-within, the region. The Association provides leadership and counsel on an individual and collective basis to over 80 government, state and city tourism bodies; nearly 50 international airlines, airports and cruise lines and many hundreds of travel industry companies across the Asia Pacific region and beyond. Thousands of travel professionals belong to 39 active PATA chapters worldwide and participate in a wide range of PATA and industry events. PATA’s Strategic Intelligence Centre (SIC) offers unrivalled data and insights including Asia Pacific inbound and outbound statistics, analyses and forecasts as well as in-depth reports on strategic tourism markets. For more information, please visit www.PATA.org

This article is quoted from the newsletter PATAnews from PATA . Follow the green link to read the original article published on 2011.08.31.

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 USD44.8bn (2.1% of total GDP) in 2011, rising by 7.5% pa to USD92.7bn (2.1%) 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 8.1% pa from USD103.8bn (4.8% of GDP) in 2011 to USD226.1bn (5.1%) by 2021.

Employment: Direct Contribution
Travel & Tourism is expected to support directly 28,437,000 jobs (4.3% of total employment) in 2011, rising by 2.1% pa to 35,008,000 jobs (4.5%) 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 45,595,000 jobs (6.9% of total employment) in 2011 to 57,757,000 jobs (7.4%) by 2021.

Visitor Exports
Travel & Tourism visitor exports are expected to generate USD18.1bn (4.0% of total exports) in 2011, growing by 8.6% pa (in nominal terms) to USD34.3bn (2.2%) in 2021.

Investment
Travel & Tourism investment is estimated at USD29.7bn or 4.6% of total investment in 2011. It should rise by 8.4% pa to reach USD66.5bn (or 4.7%) of total investment in 2021.

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

The South Asia Region includes Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Download the regional report on South Asia tourism 2011 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 this link to read the original article and download the report on South Asian tourism 2011 here.
Get an overview of all the region reports from WTTC here

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

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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.

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

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President Mohamed Nasheed

The fishermen of the Maldives once referred to their Indian Ocean archipelago as the “land of emergence and submergence.” The tidal currents that swirl within the country’s atolls regularly shift whole beaches of sand from one side of a cove to another, swallowing and spitting out coral and rock. But by the end of this century, according to various scientific projections, the low-lying Maldives may slip below the waters entirely.

The man hoping to turn the tide is Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed. Since coming to power last year in an election that ended a three-decade-long dictatorship, Nasheed, 42, has championed the fight against climate change. His tiny nation of fewer than 400,000 souls has become a symbol both of what’s at stake, and what we can do to change it. Rising sea levels, the consequence of more than a century of industrial growth, may not be the Maldives’ fault, but it is the Maldives’ problem. What happens to these islands in the coming years, experts suggest, could indicate what will happen to coastal regions across the globe. “We are on the world’s front line,” Nasheed tells TIME. “And, in a sense, we are its only hope.”

In March, his government announced that the Maldives would, within 10 years, become the world’s first ever fully carbon-neutral nation with an array of eco-energy projects. Tourists will have to fork out a daily green tax. Environmentalists are hailing Nasheed as a climate-change standard bearer ahead of crucial talks in Copenhagen in December. “We want to shift the global debate from apathy to action,” trumpeted the Maldivian President during a speech he delivered to the British House of Commons on July 6.

Time is fast running out. At huge public cost, the previous regime of octogenarian Maumoon Abdul Gayoom erected a system of ugly concrete bulwarks and seawalls around some of the country’s major population centers. That project, imposed against the wishes of local islanders, has failed, and in some areas it has accelerated land erosion and killed stretches of once pristine coral reef.

Nasheed says his government will focus on how the archipelago’s complex web of natural defenses — in particular, those coral reefs — may themselves adapt and mitigate the effects of rising waters and changes in ocean temperatures. Reefs helped save the country from the devastating 2005 tsunami by absorbing the brunt of the powerful earthquake-triggered wave. With the backing of the University of Milan, the government will set up a marine-research center. Says Nasheed: “We can show the world how protecting reefs is the first step to protecting man, the trees and the land.”

Still, Nasheed knows that the day could come when no trees or land remain. Soon after taking office, he announced a plan for a sovereign wealth fund to finance the purchase of land, perhaps in a larger country such as Australia or India, that might serve as a new home for the entire Maldivian population. Nasheed is clearheaded about the stark reality facing small island nations in the coming century. Buying land is the Maldives’ insurance policy. “We don’t want to leave,” he says. “But we don’t want to see our children and grandchildren in tents as refugees either.”

GREEN TIP
‘I walk to work every day, rather than take the presidential limousine. It’s better for the environment and I can stop and chat to people on the way.’— Mohamed Nasheed

Click here to go to the original Time article, published october 5, 2009.
Click for a list on all the Heroes of the Environment 2009, published in Time magazin october 5, 2009.

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

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