WTD, is held this year under the theme ‘Tourism and Biodiversity’, in support of the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity. China, one of the world’s most biologically diverse countries and a major tourism destination, will lead the 2010 official WTD celebrations.

World Tourism Organization UNWTO;
The High Level Dialogue on Tourism, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, meeting in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the host of the WTD celebrations, will debate issues ranging from the economic value of biodiversity for tourism, to how to integrate biodiversity protection into planning for sustainable tourism.

Participants include representatives from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); the President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the CEO of Six Senses Resorts; as well as the Ministers of Tourism of China, Kenya and Malaysia. The conclusions of the High Level Dialogue will be presented to the tenth Conference of the Parties to the CBD as part of UNWTO’s contribution to the post-2010 targets of the CBD (Nagoya, Japan, 18-29 October).

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UNWTO is also proud to count on two prominent media representatives to conduct this year’s WTD celebrations. The renowned TV presenter Yan Lang and CNN’s International Beijing Bureau Chief, Jaime FlorCruz. CNN is an official media partner of UNWTO and of the 2010 WTD celebrations.

The official WTD celebrations, organized by UNWTO, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and Guangdong Province, are held in conjunction with the Guangdong International Tourism and Culture Festival and also include a road parade for WTD Celebrations and the Asian Games and a photo exhibition along the streets of Guangzhou, featuring photos from this year’s WTD photo competition.

Further activities are being organized by the tourism community across the world. Information on these events can be found on the dedicated WTD website (http://www.UNWTO.org/worldtourismday/).

World Tourism Day is a thematic event held every year on 27 September. Its purpose is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value. The event seeks to address global challenges outlined in the UN Millennium Development Goals and to highlight the contribution the tourism industry can make in reaching these goals.

WTD 2010 is jointly organized by UNWTO, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the Guangdong provincial government in collaboration with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) as a regional partner and UNWTO media partner CNN.