UN: Tourism can help developing countries

Tourism can play a key role in helping developing countries and can also deliver on the United Nations efforts to deliver sustainable growth.

That is the message from the UN General Assembly, which says its upcoming September meeting on climate change will be a vital forum for ensuring tourism can play a beneficial role in global efforts to go green.

Representatives from the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) will meet at the assembly in New York, with assistant secretary-general Geoffrey Lipman saying there was a key role for tourism as a positive agent of change.

"Tourism can and must play its part in responding to the global climate imperative and we can and must do this in a way that also advances the industry’s contribution to poverty alleviation," he explained.

Tourism can bring crucial export growth and also drive jobs in poorer regions of the world, according to the UN.

Later in the year UNWTO will also take part in the second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in Switzerland.