The Approaching World Tourism Day
The Approaching World Tourism Day
Hello, this is Chris & Partners. ✈ Don't you sometimes pull out photos from trips you took before? The tourism industry may seem to have stalled due to COVID, but in step with the new-normal era, new forms of tourism events are emerging in the MICE industry. Related to this, we'll look into the soon-approaching World Tourism Day.
World Tourism Day
At the 3rd UN World Tourism Organization General Assembly held in Spain in 1979, this day was designated ‘World Tourism Day’ to commemorate the adoption of the World Tourism Organization Statutes on September 27, 1970, and full-scale commemorative events were carried out from 1980. It is an international commemorative day established by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the UN's international body for the tourism field, with the goal of making the international community aware of tourism's importance in social, cultural, political, and economic aspects. For the purpose of pledging the development of each country's tourism industry and widely spreading its importance, commemorative events are held in countries worldwide each year on September 27, in keeping with the theme decided at the UNWTO General Assembly.
The World Tourism Day theme, which changes every year
In 1980 the World Tourism Organization set the theme ‘Tourism's contribution to the preservation of cultural heritage and to peace and mutual understanding,’ and has since announced a theme suited to each era's circumstances, with posters produced and events held in each country to commemorate Tourism Day. After the COVID pandemic, the 2020 Tourism Day theme was designated ‘Tourism & Rural Development.’ Celebrating tourism's unique ability to provide opportunities to regions outside big cities and emphasizing tourism's important role in preserving culture and heritage worldwide, it was, for the first time ever, jointly hosted by several UNWTO member states in cooperation (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, and more). It was a theme that harmonized well with 2020's trends, when the keywords ‘sustainability’ and ‘eco-friendliness’ drew attention.
Trends in tourism-industry events after the COVID pandemic
After the COVID pandemic, our lives and many events—including Tourism Day—met great change, and the contactless era arrived. Cultural events such as exhibitions and performances are changing—from online events that merely replace the in-person format, to forms that actively leverage the unique strengths only online has. Also, events commemorating Tourism Day were sometimes hosted amid the COVID situation while keeping distancing rules, but in many cases they were converted to contactless events. Accordingly, MICE-industry and hybrid- and webinar-format events showed an increasing trend.
With-Corona and the approaching World Tourism Day
What forms of events will be held this year, marking World Tourism Day? As solutions for the sustainable growth of the tourism industry in the era of coexistence with COVID-19 are explored, hybrid-format events are expected. Looking at how events will be held in countries worldwide on the approaching World Tourism Day would also help in observing this era's event trends. Even if With-Corona is declared, online business and the hybrid industry are expected to keep rising. As With-Corona is gradually declared around the world, and as we feel the restart time for the tourism industry and related industries approaching, the 2021 theme was set as ‘Tourism for Inclusive Growth.’ It can be seen as a theme that, with the original purpose of Tourism Day and 2021's With-Corona, hints at the restart of the tourism industry. We look forward to COVID ending swiftly, vitality returning to the tourism industry, and a day coming when everyone can travel safely and enjoyably. 🙏🏻
Are you planning a hybrid event? Chris & Partners—partner with us! As a proven PCO that responds flexibly and aptly to clients' needs, we provide tailored services to deliver the best results from the planning stage to the finish—program and content planning, consulting, speaker booking, follow-up, and more.