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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Event status South Asia 2011-08-10
Bangladesh 5 events
India 41 events
Nepal 5 events
Bhutan 0 event
Pakistan 1 event
Myanmar 0 event

Organizers are 350.org , who are building a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

This article is quoted from Moving Planet , read the original article here.

The 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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It is with huge contentment that I announce the 2nd year anniversary of the Views On Tourism Project this month.
What a fantastic journey it has been to live in Bangladesh from 2007 to 2010, share valuable tourism knowledge and encourage the emerging sustainable tourism movement in Bangladesh and South Asia. Although I moved back to Denmark the Views On Tourism Project is still growing and you, my reader, can take a huge part of the credit.

The Views On Tourism blog provides knowledge and inspiration for the Bangladeshi tourism sector, nearby South Asian countries, developing countries or destinations facing similar challenges. With an ever growing number of visitors from up to 120 countries in one single month, the blog has just passed a total of 100.000 visitors.

The Views On Tourism network and discussion group unite the sustainable tourism stakeholders related to Bangladesh and South Asia. It is simply fantastic to witness the constant growth of skilled members, intensifying lively interaction and visionary discussions.

This is indeed interesting times to experience the growing sustainable tourism movement in Bangladesh and South Asia and I am eager to play my part in this process. Increased local commitment and long-term sustainable initiatives are still required in the future, but there is no doubt that if the tourism stakeholders in Bangladesh and South Asia unite they have the resources, knowledge and visions to succeed.

Please join the movement too and use the Views On Tourism Project when increasing knowledge, sharing best practice, spreading information, making comments, announcing events, starting discussions, network and cooperate. Together we can achieve a sustainable future!

I wish you a happy new year in 2011.

Yours faithfully Majbritt Thomsen
E-mail: info@viewsontourism.info
See the public LinkedIn profile of Majbritt Thomsen, follow this link .

For further information please follow these links:
Go to the Views On Tourism – Knowledge and Inspiration Blog.
Read the group introduction and join the Views On Tourism – Network and Discussion Group.

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Though it has been almost 3 month since my last newsletter, The Views On Tourism Project is still very much alive.

The Views On Tourism knowledge and inspiration blog has reached more than 70.000 readers from over 100 different countries. Americans are the largest national group of visitors, but the Bangladeshi readers are by far the most active readers.

The Views On Tourism network and discussion group has reached a total of 360 skilled and visionary sustainable tourism stakeholders from Bangladesh, South Asia and other parts of the world. I am so excited about the intensifying lively and constructive group interaction. Please join the online network through this link .

As a Danish expat living, travelling and working in Bangladesh from 2007 to 2010, I now feel love for the country, sympathy for its people and passion for a local sustainable tourism development. I will still do the basic online managing of the Views On Tourism Project from Denmark, but my work or physical location does actually not determinate the future development and success of the project or the sustainable tourism movement. The key element is local ownership – getting even more people to encourage a sustainable tourism development through their actions.

I therefore welcome you to use the Views On Tourism Project as your sustainable tourism communication platform when increasing knowledge, sharing best practice, spreading information, making comments, announcing events, starting discussions, network, and cooperate.

This is indeed interesting times to experience the growing sustainable tourism movement in Bangladesh and South Asia. I am honored to play my part.

Yours faithfully Majbritt Thomsen
E-mail: info@viewsontourism.info
See the public LinkedIn profile of Majbritt Thomsen, follow this link .

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This Views On Tourism article quotes a Sustainable Travel International (STI) aid initiative in Pakistan:

Our partners at GlobalGiving make it easy for travel-related businesses and travelers to help people and places around the world that desperately need it. Right now, for example, you can support on-the-ground relief efforts for the hardest hit victims of the devastating floods that have recently hit Pakistan by making a donation to Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS).

Monsoons have flooded much of Northern Pakistan displacing thousands of families and leaving masses homeless, but no major relief efforts have yet begun to reach the hardest hit regions. Funds are needed to get supplies and volunteers to where they are most needed. Donations will pay for medicines, vaccinations, emergency equipment, ambulance rental, fuel, food, water and logistics to get these supplies through the difficult terrain into Pakistan’s flood-affected areas.

CDRS has set up a medical clinic close to the hardest hit flood areas. Donations will allow them to purchase and create a supply line from the larger cities to deliver donations of medical supplies, food, water, and medical providers and volunteers.

To make a donation to support this important work please click here.

STI is proud to partner with GlobalGiving to offer travelers and traveler providers the opportunity to support hundreds of critically important projects around the world. To read more about STI’s Travelers Giving Back program please click here.
This article is quoted from the Sustainable Travel International (STI) Newsletter published August 2010 by STI.

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

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But how to get this development process started?
Is it the tourism industry, organisations, associations, NGO’s, foreign experts, visionary individuals or government that should start this process?
How has successful tourist destinations started their development?
Which sectors from Bangladesh has gone through a similar process?

I am convinced that the visionary and skilled people related to a sustainable tourism development in Bangladesh has to unite and increase knowledge sharing and cooperate in order to launch innovating, positive and sustainable initiatives.
This is a long term process – a sustainable tourism movement – aiming to develop the national tourism industry and to unite the people involved in this sector. I do not see any alternative; long term positive tourism development has to be a vision shared by many people guiding their actions.

To my knowledge Kerala in India and Nepal are some of the very successful tourism destinations in the South Asian region who started their tourism development through the initiative of the tourism industry. Through the long term visions and actions of the private sector, the tourism industry developed up to a level where the government was convinced of the industry potential and got involved.

In Bangladesh I have heard that the garment sector developed in a similar way. To my knowledge it was only a few visionary and resourceful people that stepped forward and invested in the first garment factories in Bangladesh. Their initiative developed into several successful businesses, which caught the attention of the government. It was at that moment that the government increased their support to develop a Bangladeshi garment industry.

During almost 3 years in Bangladesh I have meet so many skilled and visionary people related to Bangladeshi tourism industry and learned about so many fantastic initiatives. The resources to develop a sustainable Bangladeshi tourism industry do indeed exist.
I believe the biggest obstacles to develop a positive Bangladeshi tourism industry is not the government, it is to unite all relevant stakeholders in a national sustainable tourism movement. The actions of this movement should be guided by long term sustainable visions, knowledge and cooperation.

We all make an impact in the society we live in – I believe we have an obligation to use our resources to make a positive impact.

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.

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

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