Fiji Part of Statistician Heads To Take Up Challenge of Tourism Ministers

Six heads of statistic agencies of six nations agreed to take part in crafting a global standardized form of metrics in determining and assessing data on tourism.
In the afternoon session of day one of the 6th UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics being held from June 21-24, 2017 in Manila in the Philippines, the heads of statistics agencies for Oman, Kenya, Belarus, South Africa, Indonesia, and Fiji affirmed the need for a framework on measuring performance in tourism.
UNWTO Regional Director for the Asia-Pacific region, Xu Jing, said the data generated from the statistics of every country’s tourism sector will help contribute in “capacity building.”
Xu cited the growth of so-called Inter-Regional Tourism (IRT) that has helped propel the economies of several nations dependent on tourism.
He also cited the example of countries in Southeast Asia and the Far East who have sustained their tourism economies from visitors in neighboring countries. Initial data showed that almost 40% of the growth in these countries are attributed to tourists from neighboring countries.
The three-day conference is part of a series of a year-long activity by the UNWTO for 2017 as part of the “International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.”
 
(Source: eTurboNews 21 June 2017)