The United Nations’ (UN) World Tourism Day is being observed on Sept 27 to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values.
The Day recognizes the importance of tourists and the tourism industry across the globe.
The theme of 2016 is “Tourism for all – promoting universal accessibility”.
The UNWTO Secretary-General annually sends out a message to the general public to mark the occasion. Many tourism enterprises and organizations, as well as government agencies with a special interest in tourism, celebrate the event with various special events and festivities.
Different types of competitions, such as photo competitions promoting tourism, as well as tourism award presentations in areas such as ecotourism, are held on World Tourism Day.
Other activities include free entries, discounts or special offers for the general public to any site of tourism interest.
The UNWTO decided in late September 1979 to institute World Tourism Day, which was first celebrated on September 27, 1980.
September 27 was chosen as the date for World Tourism Day because that date coincided with an important milestone in world tourism: the anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes on September 27, 1970.
The UNWTO believes that the date for World Tourism Day is appropriate because it comes at the end of the high tourist season in the northern hemisphere and the start of the tourist season in the southern hemisphere, when tourism is of topical interest to many people worldwide, particularly travelers and those working in the tourism sector.
