September 2019 is set to be a defining month in global history. World leaders will convene at the UN for the annual General Assembly as well as the first stock-taking summit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Both could be turning points for what I have termed “The Two Global Warmings.”
At the UN General Assembly, leaders will take turns to justify their policies and actions, in the midst of growing global conflict and violence and rising concerns about the future of democracy and personal privacy. Then, at the Climate Change Summit, they will again take to the podium to brag about what they are doing to advance the UN SDGs.
In fact, the actions of global leaders are becoming oxymorons. On the one hand, they want to boost national economies and alleviate poverty; on the other, they are wasting billions of dollars on armaments and security equipment. All this, while seeking additional funds for climate finance, education, health, agriculture, innovation, and more.
Do Travel & Tourism leaders recognise these contradictions?
The UNWTO’s biennial General Assembly to be held in St Petersburg between 9 – 13 September 2019 should offer some leadership and policy guidance on how Travel & Tourism, the so-called “Industry of Peace”, can walk the talk and actually become a part of the solution in what the UN terms “The Decade of Delivery” — the final 2020-2030 period of the UN SDGs.
If such leadership and policy guidance is indeed forthcoming, it can be echoed from industry pulpits on World Tourism Day, which also falls this month, on 27 September. Indeed, this year’s WTD commemoration will bring all these contradictions to a head. The host city is New Delhi, capital of a country where one of the world’s most desirable destinations, Kashmir, is under siege. The theme of this year’s WTD is “Tourism and Jobs: a Better Future for All”. In Kashmir,
tourism jobs are dead.
