Pattaya declared a 'City of Peace'

Khun Nirum Wattanasartsaton, Mayor of Pattaya City declared Pattaya a ‘City of Peace’ during a special ceremony at the 3rd Global Summit on Peace through Tourism, held October 2-5, 2005 at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort and Conference Center. Joining the Mayor was IIPT Founder and President Louis D’Amore, and members of the Pattaya Rotary Club.

As part of the Ceremony – an IIPT International Peace Park was dedicated with delegates from countries throughout the world taking part together with members of Rotary and dignitaries from Pattaya City.

The theme of the 3rd Global Summit on Peace through Tourism, organized by the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) with the support of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), was “One Earth One Family: Travel and Tourism – Serving a Higher Purpose.” His Excellency Mr. Suwat Liptapanlop, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand welcomed delegates on behalf of the people of Thailand, and delivered the Summit Keynote address.

Within this theme, the Summit addressed the role of Tourism in advancing the U.N. Millennium Development Goals; A Strategic Response to International Terrorism; Healing the Wounds of Conflict through Tourism, Culture and Sport; a Sustained Travel Industry Response to the Social and Economic Re-Vitalization of Tsunami Affected Areas; and other topic areas related to environment, community tourism, the media, accessible travel for all, empowering youth, indigenous tourism, cultural tourism, volunteer tourism, destination crisis management, and poverty reduction.

A significant outcome of the Summit was an agreement between the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and the Africa Travel Association (ATA) to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a view to forging an Asia – Africa Bridge of Tourism, Friendship, and Collaboration.

IIPT Achievement Awards

IIPT Achievement Awards were given to Mr. Chung Ju Yung (1915 – 2001), Founder, Hyundai Business Group for his pioneering efforts in harnessing tourism to open doors to North Korea; Peace Trees Vietnam, for working alongside the Vietnamese people to transform the destructive consequences of war into a safe and healthy environment for the children of Quang Tri Province by removing land mines and replacing them with trees; and to “Just a Drop,” the official charity of Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE), for providing clean water to children and their families in least developed counties and to the survivors of the Asian Tsunami. Fiona Jeffery, Founder and Board Chairman of “Just a Drop” and RTE’s Group Exhibitions Director, accepted the award on behalf of Just a Drop.

IIPT Promoting Peace through Tourism for 20 Years

The aim of IIPTs’s 1st Global Conference on Peace through Tourism, Vancouver 1988, was to create greater awareness of the potential for tourism to be a vital force for peace: peace with our neighbors in the global village, peace with nature, and peace with future generations through sustainable tourism development. According to IIPT Founder and President Louis D’Amore, “It is evident that this ‘higher purpose’ of Tourism has now gained broad acceptance at the highest levels.”

Delegates at the 3rd Global Summit accepted the challenge to harness the broad acceptance of this higher purpose, and to form partnering relationships in moving forward with concrete actions and initiatives as set out in a “21st Century Agenda for Peace through Tourism.”

Central to the 21st Century Agenda for Peace through Tourism is achieving the vision set out by IIPT when it was founded in 1986: that travel and tourism, the world’s largest industry, become recognized as the world’s first “Global Peace Industry” – an industry that promotes and supports the belief that every traveler is potentially an Ambassador for Peace.

The Agenda has set 2010 for the achievement of this goal as a legacy of the U.N. Decade of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. It also set as a goal 2,010 Peace Parks circling the earth by 2010 as part of IIPT’s Global Peace Parks Program launched from Bethany Beyond the Jordan, site of Christ’s baptism, as a legacy of the 1st Global Summit on Peace through Tourism. Other initiatives include the launch of a World Peace Passport; a Global Youth Outreach Internship Program; and support for the Africa Diaspora Heritage Trail being implemented by the Government of Bermuda.

The 3rd Global Summit on Peace through Tourism was in support of the U.N. Decade of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World and the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.

See other recent news regarding: Pattaya