APEC Tourism Working Group Priorities

The APEC Tourism Working Group is made up of government administrators from APEC economies working in the area of tourism. They consult with people from private companies to share information, exchange ideas and work together on tourism issues and policies. The APEC Tourism Working Group Youth Initiative has not begun yet and have not decided what issues they want to address. The following four themes arise from the APEC Tourism Working Group priorities.

Making travel easier in the Asia Pacific region* is a key priority for the APEC Tourism Working Group. Studies have shown that making travel arrangements such as buying cheap airfare, getting visas and making reservations for tours can be a complicated process for people wanting to travel within APEC's 18 member economies. This can be described as a lack of tourism infrastructure.

Promotion of tourism* as a way to make money without harming the environment. Working Group members are interested in exploiting the benefits of what some people call "eco-tourism". Eco-tourism is tourism that does not hurt the earth, it's inhabitants or cause any irretrievable loss of the earth's resources (water, plants, animals). This is a very popular way for people to see the world without hurting it.

Working Group members have studied businesses that are running eco-toursim programs and have been promoting these best businesses as models for others to imitate.

Human resource development in the tourism industry* means keeping businesses and governments that sell tourism well supplied in terms of the people who work for them. The tourism industry needs people who have skills and knowledge about how to market travel in the Asia Pacific region. As such, the Tourism Working Group has identified training needs for the next few years.

Exchange of tourism information* is a high priority for working group members because it allows them to make better policy decisions. The Tourism working group promotes information-sharing between governments (like cities), businesses (like travel agents and tour companies), and charitable organizations (like safari parks and museums). This is so that everyone can learn from everyone else's successes and challenges and so that they can learn to work together for everyone's benefit.

* Please note: These priority themes have been paraphrased. They are originally from the APEC Tourism Working Group web page.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What do you think might be some barriers to travel for youth? Can you think of what can be done so that more youth are able to travel?
2. In your community, are there examples of eco-tourism? What do most tourists do when they come to your community? Is the impact of tourism in your community good or bad for the environment?
3. Have you ever thought about becoming a travel agent? What do you think would be most interesting about working in the travel industry? And the least interesting thing?
4. Do you see members of your community from businesses, charitable organizations and government coming together to promote tourism?

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© 1997 - TG Magazine / The Students Commission
© 1997 le magazine TG / la Commission des Ètudiants