World Tourism Day on 27 September 2005 to pay Homage to Jules Verne

National tourism administrations, tour operators, hotels, tourism schools and the media are set to celebrate World Tourism Day, whose theme this year is "Travel and Transport: From the Imagination of Jules Verne to 21st Century Reality", in tribute to the great French visionary and writer.

World Tourism Day (WTD) is celebrated worldwide every 27 September, a date that was chosen to coincide with an important milestone in world tourism, the anniversary of the adoption of the WTO Statutes on 27 September 1970.

Most WTO Member States, non-members, regions, local communities and schools, from Madeira to Vladivostok, from Latvia to Argentina, will organize a series of events commemorating this red-letter day for the tourism industry. Festivals, exhibitions and concerts will be held, museums and theatres will open their doors free of charge, and conferences will discuss tourism-related issues.

The host country of WTD 2005 is Qatar, the first WTO Member from the Middle East to have accepted this honour and responsibility. "The Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has declared this day to be of special importance for the country," stressed QTA Chairman Akbar Al Baker.

Celebrations will include Qatar's first National Tourism Conference and a series of accompanying events. Qatar will take this opportunity to take stock of its remarkable achievements in establishing itself as a tourism destination and an important player in international travel. Speakers at the National Tourism Conference will include WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli as well as representatives of Qatar's hotel industry, travel agencies and other segments.

"Transport has always been the lifeblood of the travel industry-and what better time to celebrate this vital relationship than in the year that marks the centenary of the death of one of the world's great authors and travel visionaries," said Mr. Frangialli in his official message, paying homage to his compatriot Jules Verne. 

"Perhaps it is no coincidence that the two transport inventions that are now recognized as the main instigators of modern tourism, the car and the airplane, both made their appearance on the world stage shortly before Verne's death."

"Today more and more people can afford to travel. In 1950 it was twenty million, last year 760 million, and by 2020 it is expected that the number of international travellers will exceed 1.6 billion a year."

"Travel enables us to enrich our lives with new experiences, to enjoy and to educate ourselves, to learn respect for foreign cultures, to establish friendships, and above all to contribute to international cooperation and peace throughout the world," underscored the WTO Secretary-General.

Organized by the World Tourism Organization, a United Nations specialized agency for tourism based in Madrid, Spain, WTD is an international day meant to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values.

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