World Tourism Day 2005

The theme for this years' World Tourism Day was 'Travel and Transportation: From the Imagination of Jules Verne to 21st Century Reality' in remembrance of the great French visionary and writer.

Around the Globe, which Phileas Fogg and his intrepid explorers traversed in 80 days, WTO Members States, non-members, regions, local communities and schools, from Madeira to Vladivostok, from Latvia to Argentina, organized a series of events commemorating the most important holiday for the tourism industry. While in Doha Qatar Tourism Authority hosted the country's first National Tourism Conference.

A first for Qatar

'Qatar is honoured to be the first WTO Member from the Middle East to accept the responsibility of hosting World Tourism Day' said Akbar Al Baker, Chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority. 'This is a day of a special importance for our country and will continue to be with the establishment of the annual National Tourism Conference.'

Over two hundred tourism delegates attended the conference, held in the Four Seasons Doha, September 27th, and heard a keynote speech from World Tourism Organisation's Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli who spoke on the theme for this year.

'Transport has always been the lifeblood of the travel industry - and what better time to celebrate this vital relationship than in the year that marks the centenary of the death of one of the world's great authors and travel visionaries,' said Mr. Francesco Frangialli, the WTO Secretary-General paying homage to his compatriot Jules Verne.

'Perhaps it is no coincidence that the two transport inventions that are now recognized as the main instigators of modern tourism - the car and the airplane - both made their appearance on the world stage shortly before Verne's death.'

'Today more and more people can afford to travel. In 1950 it was twenty million, last year 760 million, and by 2020 it is expected that the number of international travellers will exceed 1.6 billion a year.'

'How much further can we go? What are the final frontiers in this quest for travel? Will humankind only be satisfied when journeys into space become readily available and affordable?

'Travel enables us to enrich our lives with new experiences, to enjoy and to be educated, to learn respect for foreign cultures, to establish friendships, and above all to contribute to international cooperation and peace throughout the world,' underscored the Secretary-General.

Organized by the World Tourism Organization, a United Nations specialised agency for tourism based in Madrid, Spain, WTD is an international day meant to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values.