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, May, 2010
1993 Silk Road Project General Assembly Bali, Indonesia
19 countries Samarkand Declaration on Silk Road Tourism Historic 1994
Call for A peaceful and fruitful rebirth of these legendary routes as one of the world´s richest cultural tourism destinations
SILK ROAD MEETINGS
1994 1st UNWTO & UNESCO Silk Road Meeting, Samarkand, Uzbekistan Adoption of Samarkand Declaration & Logotype st Silk Road Travel Forum, Xián, China Elaboration of Joint Marketing and Promotion Strategy nd 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 rd 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 rd 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 th 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 st 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 rd Silk Road Travel Forum, Nara,Japan With UNESCO and APTEC An action plan to link Silk Road Handicraft centers
Bukhara2002 Silk Road Declarations Khiva1999 Samarkand1994 Astana2009 UNWTO
PROMOTIONAL PUBLICATIONS
STUDIES
Silk Road Initiative (SRI) Involves the participation of the Governments of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan Established in 2003
Investment TourismTrade
United Nations Silk Road City Awards Silk Road City Awards Future based on Tradition
To stimulate and encourage quality tourism development through healthy competitiveness between Silk Road cities Judging to be undertaken by the Eminent PersonsGroup (EPG) Objectives
1. Culture Environment Services and Facilities City Administration Infrastructure 25 Total Points 200 Silk Road City Awards Criteria 6. Social 25
NEW COMMITMENT OF UNWTO TO THE SR TOURISM PROGRAMME
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
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
MY PROFILE
International Silk Road Conference Samarkand, Uzbekistan SAVE THE DATE 8-9 October 2010
Source: UNWTO 27% SR COUNTRIES - INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS 2008
SILK ROAD COUNTRIES SHARE IN INTERNATIONAL TOURIST RECEIPTS Source: UNWTO 20%
Ms Alla Peressolova, UNWTO Silk Road Programme Coordinator, WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION (UNWTO) Thank you خیلی ممنون
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
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
SILK ROAD is a unique platform for effective regional and intraregional cooperation
Forecast 2010: 3% to 4% International Tourism: back to growth in 2010 change (%) Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)