Lanka gears up for World Tourism Day

A. G. PIYADASA

WORLD TOURISM Day will be commemorated on Sept. 27 each year by appropriate events on themes selected by the General Assembly on recommendation of United Nations World Tourism Organisations (UNWTO) Executive Council.

The main purpose of World Tourism Day is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, political and economic values, said Tourist Ministry Secretary P. M. Leelaratne.

‘Tourism opens doors for women’ is the theme for the United Nations World Tourism Day 2007 and Sri Lanka has been selected to be this year’s host country for this important event. Sri Lanka has been a UNWTO member for over 30 years.

The celebration will be held on September 27 at the Picnic Area, Bentota, which will be attended by many international delegates. UN World Tourism Organisation officials, professional women of architects, social scientists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, diplomats, librarians, writers, bankers, insurers, hoteliers, tour operators, travel agents and entrepreneurs, fashion designers, beauty consultants, sports personalities, media personalities.

In keeping with the UN’s 3rd millennium development goal of promotion of gender equality, empowerment of women and the elimination of gender disparity in education, the UNWTO has chosen to make women in tourism, the focus of this years summit.