1. OVERVIEW UNWTO Silk Road Activities: the past and the future Ms Alla Peressolova UNWTO Silk Road Programme Coordinator WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION (UNWTO) Silk Road Mayors Forum, Shiraz, Iran, 19-21 May, 2010

2. 1993 Silk Road Project General Assembly Bali, Indonesia

3. 19 countries Samarkand Declaration on Silk Road Tourism Historic 1994

4. Call for A peaceful and fruitful rebirth of these legendary routes as one of the world´s richest cultural tourism destinations

5. SILK ROAD MEETINGS

6. 1994 1st UNWTO & UNESCO Silk Road Meeting, Samarkand, Uzbekistan Adoption of Samarkand Declaration & Logotype 1996 1st Silk Road Travel Forum, Xián, China Elaboration of Joint Marketing and Promotion Strategy 1997 2nd Silk Road Meeting, Teheran, Iran Recommendation of the establishment of a Silk Road Website & Silk Road Tourism Day 1997 Workshop within the UNWTO General Assembly, Istanbul, Turkey Initiative to develop an action plan to link Silk Road Handicraft centers 1998 3rd Silk Road Travel Form, Kyoto, Japan Familiarization of Silk Road tour operators with Japanese outbound market 1998 Silk Road Tour Operators Workshop, Almaty, Kazakhstan Discussion on the measures to enhance the appeal of the Silk Road´s tourism product 1998 3rd Silk Road Meeting, Tbilisi, Georgia An action plan to link Silk Road Handicraft centers 1999 UNWTO/UNEWSCO Seminar on Tourism & Culture Khiva, Uzbekistan Adoption of Khiva Declaration 2002 4th Silk Road Meeting, Bukhara, Uzbekistan Adoption of the Bukhara Declaration & establish- ment of a Silk Road office in Samarkand 2003 Workshop within the UNWTO General Assembly Beijing, China Decided to establish the Silk Road Project 2004 Implementation of inter-regional SR Project, funded by UNDP SR Mayors Forum & SR Investment Forum Proposal of UN Silk Road City Awards 2008 1st Meeting of the Eminent Persons Group on the Silk Road at the joint initiative of UNWTO & UNDP Madrid, Spain, UNWTO HQ 2009 Silk Road Meeting, UNWTO General Assembly Astana, Kazakhstan Adoption of Astana Declaration 1997 2rd Silk Road Travel Forum, Nara,Japan With UNESCO and APTEC An action plan to link Silk Road Handicraft centers

7. Bukhara2002 Silk Road Declarations Khiva1999 Samarkand1994 Astana2009 UNWTO

8. 2002 2005 2006 PROMOTIONAL PUBLICATIONS

9. 20012005 STUDIES

10. Silk Road Initiative (SRI) Involves the participation of the Governments of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan Established in 2003

11. Investment TourismTrade

12. United Nations Silk Road City Awards Silk Road City Awards Future based on Tradition

13. To stimulate and encourage quality tourism development through healthy competitiveness between Silk Road cities Judging to be undertaken by the Eminent PersonsGroup (EPG) Objectives

14. 1. Culture 45 2. Environment 40 3. Services and Facilities 35 4. City Administration 30 5. Infrastructure 25 Total Points 200 Silk Road City Awards Criteria 6. Social 25

15. NEW COMMITMENT OF UNWTO TO THE SR TOURISM PROGRAMME

16. SILK ROAD Programme as a truly regional undertaking Marketing and promotion – raising awareness (fairs, festivals and media) Capacity building (trainings, seminars, conferences) Travel facilitation - stimulate dialogue

17. WORK IN PROGRESS Partnership with ITB and Fitur – annual SR events – promotional Bazar and B2B Partnership with ITB and Fitur – annual SR events – promotional Bazar and B2B Rally? Marathon? Film Festival? Rally? Marathon? Film Festival? Consultations with Ambassadors of the SR countries in Europe – JUNE Consultations with Ambassadors of the SR countries in Europe – JUNE On-line SILK ROAD community/platform On-line SILK ROAD community/platform

19. MY PROFILE

20. International Silk Road Conference Samarkand, Uzbekistan SAVE THE DATE 8-9 October 2010

21. www.wordle.net

22. Source: UNWTO 27% SR COUNTRIES - INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS 2008

23. SILK ROAD COUNTRIES SHARE IN INTERNATIONAL TOURIST RECEIPTS Source: UNWTO 20%

24. Ms Alla Peressolova, UNWTO Silk Road Programme Coordinator, WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION (UNWTO) Email: aperessolova@unwto.org Thank you خیلی ممنون

25. Short term action Strengthen dissemination of visa information – Silk Road Website Establish Silk Road Visa Working Group Standardization of Visa requirements Undertake a more cost-effective regime for Visas to facilitate greater international arrivals

26. Medium term action Greater harmonization of entry requirements Agree special arrangements with tour operators for genuine Silk Road tourists Increase the eligibility for obtaining Visas on arrival/ Visa waiver

27. SILK ROAD is a unique platform for effective regional and intraregional cooperation

28. Forecast 2010: 3% to 4% International Tourism: back to growth in 2010 change (%) Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)