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| Friday, 4 February 2005 |
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"Phuket Action Plan" focuses on jobs, small businesses and return of tourists An emergency plan to assist the tourism industries of countries ravaged by the December 26 tsunami was adopted at a special session of the World Tourism Organization Executive Council on 1 February. Tourism experts representing 42 countries, the private sector and several international organizations drew up the "Phuket Action Plan" which spells out a comprehensive series of activities intended to restart the region's economically-vital tourism industry-stalled since the tsunami struck. "We are focusing on the human element in tourism, saving tourism jobs, relaunching small tourism-related businesses, and recovering the visitor flow that makes these economies work," said the WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli. The main goal of the Phuket Action Plan is to speed up recovery of the tourism sector in the affected destinations, by restoring traveller confidence in the region. The plan also aims to help destinations resume normal operations by maximising the use of existing tourism infrastructure and by helping small tourism-related businesses and employees survive the recovery period. Other goals include, putting systems in place that strengthen the sustainability of the affected destinations and working with the United Nations system on disaster reduction in the region. Generous offers of assistance were pledged by 14 countries attending the meeting (Andorra, Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Spain and Turkey). International organisations, such as the Asia Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the United Nations Development Programme also promised support. |
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