Promote sustainable tourism, says conference
Promote sustainable tourism, says conference
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The International Conference on Tourism and
Heritage Management ended yesterday calling for cooperation
between governments and the tourist industry in promoting
sustainable tourist development.
The three-day conference, which started last Monday, was
officially closed by Stephen Hill, director of United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at
the Radisson Hotel in Yogyakarta.
Conference participants put forward recommendations for world
governments, tourist organizations, academics and communities.
Noted Indonesian sociologist Selo Sumardjan chaired the
general assembly which called for respect for local religions,
culture and environment in areas to be developed into tourist
resorts.
Ideally, entire communities should be involved in developing
tourism, recommended members of one of the three working parties
at the conference.
Tourism development plans should be announced in local media
to ensure that all sectors of affected communities are well
informed, they said.
"Authorities should not allow private developers of tourism
projects to influence the community or to become moderators at
public hearings on tourism projects. It is the government's job
to approach and protect the community," they said.
Participants of the conference called on governments to
encourage all parties involved in tourism to conduct more
interdisciplinary researches.
The government should enforce regulations to ensure that no
tourism development project would have a negative impact on
cultural and natural heritage or the community, the
recommendation said.
The second working party called for better understanding of
how cultural and natural heritage attractions can be marketed
without endangering them.
Tour operators and others engaged in tourist industries should
know how to care for protected areas such as Komodo Island, East
Nusa Tenggara. "They cannot bring mass tourism to this area
because it is very vulnerable to ecological damage," the group
said.
Increasing the funding for managing heritage sites is very
important. Funding could be generated from government
contributions and from tourist-related industries themselves,
they said.
No less important is the task of expanding knowledge about
cultural tourism in the people associated with the industry, the
group recommended.
How effective the recommendations may be could remain
unanswered as most conference participants were from the academic
community. The private tourist industry was not represented.
(raw/07)