IIPT 2bd African Conference

SECOND IIPT   AFRICAN CONFERENCE ON PEACE THROUGH TOURISM 
 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania  December 7-12, 2003

The International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) is pleased to announce the  IIPT 2^nd African Conference on Peace through Tourism to be held in Dar-es Salaam,

Tanzania, 7-12 December, 2003  The Conference theme is:

"Community Tourism - Gateway to Poverty Reduction."

The Conference is being organized in partnership with the African Travel Association (ATA) and hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT), Tanzania.

Aim of the Conference is to develop partnerships, implementation strategies, and action initiatives that contribute to sustainable community development, peace and poverty reduction. 

Conference Goals are to:

• Harness the immense power of tourism as a leading force for poverty reduction in Africa.

• Identify needs to be met in order to implement socially, culturally, and    environmentally responsible Community Tourism.

•  Showcase case studies of "Success Stories" and models of Best Practice.

• Develop concrete action programs to facilitate and nurture Sustainable Community Tourism Development

Participants

The Conference will bring together senior African executives from both the public and private sectors of tourism, donor agencies, educators, policy makers, leading-edge practioners, entrepreneurs, future leaders of the industry - and senior representatives of related sectors including environment, culture and economic development.  To register, Please see our website: www.iipt.org

"Africa 100"

Nominations and conference sponsorships are invited for 100 young persons who show promise of being future leaders of the African travel and tourism industry.  They will also participate in a Youth Leadership Forum.  Please contact: Rich Fromer, Conference Coordinator,

Email: IIPT2@together.net. 

Persons or organizations wishing to sponsor "Africa 100" future leaders to the conference are also invited to contact Rich Fromer.

Educators Forum

The Conference will also feature an Educators Forum with a goal of bringing together educators of Travel and Tourism from colleges and universities throughout Africa to share knowledge, experiences and ideas for future curricula development that contributes to the formation of future leaders of the industry to mobilize travel and tourism as a vital force for socially and environmentally responsible tourism development and the important contribution of tourism as a vital force for peace and poverty reduction.  The Forum will also feature a selected number of presentations by leading educators.  Assistance in identifying African Colleges and Universities with Tourism/Hospitality programs would be most welcome and helpful.  Please contact:

Dr. Daniel McDonald Dan.mcdonald@uni.edu - Coordinator of the IIPT Educators Network.

Outcomes

An outcome of the Conference will be a "21^st Century African Agenda for Peace through Tourism" with a focus on implementation of strategic initiatives and pilot projects that empower local communities to achieve jobs with dignity and sustainable futures.

Sponsors

We are proud to announce that the Development Bank of Southern Africa is again a major sponsor of the IIPT 2^nd African Conference on Peace through Tourism.  DBSA was also a major sponsor of the IIPT 1^st African Conference in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga Conference, South Africa in March 2002.

Organizations interested in being a sponsor of the IIPT 2^nd African Conference are invited to contact Louis D'Amore, ljd@iipt.org

OUTCOMES OF 2^ND GLOBAL SUMMIT  ON PEACE THROUGH TOURISM
PART II

This is a continuation of "Outcomes" from the Second Global Summit on Peace through Tourism held in Geneva earlier this year.  Persons interested in viewing Part I can find it in our June Newsletter at our website: www.iipt.org.

IIPT and WTTC would again like to wholeheartedly thank all who took part in the Geneva Summit for your most valuable contribution to its success and look forward to your continued participation and involvement with us.  The input you provided at the Summit will form the basis for the next stage of IIPT's development - expanding our Coalition of Partners for World Peace through Tourism; growing our networks (Educators, Community Tourism, Cultural and Heritage, and Spirituality in Tourism); developing new chapters - and motivating future leaders of the industry through both the IIPT Student Chapter and newly formed IIPT Young Professionals Network.  

 This is a continuation of our report on Outcomes reported on in the IIPT June Newsletter.

MEETING OF IIPT COALITION OF PARTNERS
FOR WORLD PEACE THROUGH TOURISM

Twenty-five persons took part in an active and spirited discussion of the IIPT Coalition of Partners for World Peace through Tourism meeting.  The discussion centered on

• Updates of Millennium Projects

• Support by IIPT in helping Coalition members in conveying more effectively the message of "Building a Culture of Peace through Tourism"

•  How members can assist IIPT in becoming more visible

• The need for IIPT to have far greater financial and human resources to realize its full potential as a major player on the world stage.

Following is a sampling of Coalition member "Millennium Projects."

Ambassadair is combining vacations with humanitarian projects.  One module is "Peace Through Learning"  beginning in Belize.

Global Sports Partners (GSP) uses sports as a vehicle for "Dialogue Among Nations" and "Creating a Culture of Peace."   GSP has arranged for an American basketball team to play games in Iran and North Korea in 2003 and have partnerships with countries in North Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Asia.  GSP is also involved with disabled athletes. 

Global Volunteers projects have been undertaken in 90 different communities throughout the world with the goal of reducing poverty.  Their projects generally fall within three categories: helping care for at risk children; helping with community infrastructure needs and community development; Teaching conversational English as a tool for personal growth and employment

International Association of Amusement Parks and Associations (IAAPA) is developing means to acquaint all guests to amusement parks with the Credo of the Peaceful Traveler.

IAAPA member Europa-park, in Rust, Germany, was given an award by the Council of Europe for its work in promoting peace and understanding  in the park.  They have developed an in-park program of combating racism and created a global chat room for youth from around the world to get in touch with each other using a communications center in the park.

International Council of Tourism Partners (ICTP) is facilitating communications regarding peace through tourism using the Internet. Coalition Members are encouraged to provide information regarding their Millennium Projects for publication in the eTurboNews that reaches 184,000 travel professionals in more than 200 countries.

International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF) with 30 million guest overnights, is the largest  provider of accommodation for youth.  IYHF has launched "Youth Hostelling for Peace and Understanding" to promote cross-cultural exchange as part of the youth hostelling experience in partnership with IIPT and UNESCO. 

IYH - American Youth Hostels has also launched "Opening Doors - Opening Minds" a campaign of scholarships, education and public awareness.  Some 500,000 youth will be involved annually - incoming and outgoing with partners that include airlines and Internet providers.

Skal International is promoting eco-tourism awards and supporting world tourism task forces.

TunisAurea Travel Agency sponsors the Schola Musivi Cahthaginiensis, the oldest and one of the top three schools in the world for mosaic art ) together with Ravenna, Italy and Madaba, Jordan)  The Carthage school trains young boys at risk in the art of Mosaics.

World Airline Clubs Association is forming an IIPT Indian Ocean Chapter with a focus on contributing to poverty reduction in the Indian Ocean Islands.

The full list of more than 30 Coalition Partners is available on our Website: www.iipt.org.  We invite membership by other international organizations in the IIPT Coalition of Partners for World Peace through Tourism.  Please contact Louis D'Amore: ljd@iipt.org

IIPT CHAPTERS MEETING

Fourteen persons took part in the IIPT Chapters meeting including Presidents of the established Caribbean Chapter, Australia Chapter, and Indian Ocean Chapter, and other chapters in various stages of being formed.  Chapters are currently being formed in Serbia, Pakistan, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Maldives, Romania, New Mexico (U.S.), and West Coast (U.S.).  A preliminary set of guidelines for Chapters has been recently circulated by Chapter Coordinator Daphne Lowe Kelley, President of the Australia Chapter.

Summit Sponsors
Major sponsors of the Summit were Six Continents Hotels, Bermuda Department of Tourism, Indonesia Culture and Tourism Board, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, Moevenpick Hotels, and Reed Travel Exhibitions.   Several media sponsors assisted in promoting the Summit including eTurboNews.

CHAPTER ACTIVITIES AND DEVELOPMENT

First IIPT Australia Conference

The IIPT Australia Chapter held a very successful inaugural conference Tourism - Passport to Peace on March 29, 2003 at the Avillion Hotel Sydney, in the presence of IIPT Founder and President, Louis D'Amore.  In addition to the 21 invited speakers, the program format of five panel sessions with audience participation and discussion. produced an abundance of information, ideas, recommendations and action points.  The session topics were: Cultural sensitivity and understanding, Sustainable Tourism, Role of the media in projecting images and influencing attitudes, The peace component in travel and tourism education and training and How best to get the peace message to the industry. 

Many of the outcomes are similar to those of the Second Global Summit and the chapter's activities are programmed to include recommendations from the Summit and Conference.  These activities relate to the overall aim of spreading the IIPT message and in particular, the need for increased communications, education, industry involvement, partnering and poverty reduction.

In addition to developing and maintaining lines of communication with the leaders of the major travel and tourism organisations in Australia, sstrategies include providing IIPT speakers at their meetings and submitting articles to their journals and newsletters.  Other initiatives aimed at the industry encourage tour operators and travel agents to promote the IIPT logo, Credo of the Peaceful Traveller and a Travellers $1 Peace Donation Program is being developed. 

In conjunction with the City of Sydney, the chapter has held two events for the new nation of East Timor, a photographic exhibition and more recently, a Tais exhibition, Weaving Women's Stories, in support of East Timorese women weavers.  A proposal from the Grameen Foundation Australia to contribute to its micro-credit program is under consideration.

Two of our members, Lynda-Ann Blanchard, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney and Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, School of International Business, University of South Australia, have developed a PEACE THROUGH TOURISM course, which has been accepted by the University of Sydney and Transcend University.  It will be first offered by the University of Sydney as a Summer School course, January 5-15, 2004 (26 hours).  Transcend University will offer the course as a 13 week online program. www.transcend.org.  More information from: Lynda-Ann Blanchard.

Email lynda.blanchard@social.usyd.edu.au or Freya Higgins-Desbiolles,
Email  Freya.HigginsDesbiolles@unisa.edu.au

A second Australia Chapter Conference is planned for September 2004.  Persons interested in joining the IIPT Australia Chapter can contact Daphne Lowe Kelley.

Email: lowekelley@bigpond.com

First IIPT Caribbean Conference

The First IIPT Caribbean Conference on Peace through Tourism was held in Jamaica May 23-26, 2003.  The conference generated a positive spirit, motivation and commitment to continue efforts in pursuing community tourism as a means of sustainable community development and provided an excellent opportunity for networking.

Central themes emerging from the conference included the following:

• Community tourism is community development

•  The "ordinary" for a Jamaican is the "extraordinary" for a visitor - the simplest of culture, ways of life, history are of real interest to the tourist

• Community values must be protected - these are at the heart of community tourism that will be sustainable

• Be yourself - the visitor is interested in authentic culture, history, lifestyles

Various sub-themes also emerged including the need for partnering; being people centered; an emphasis on training; authenticity of experiences and products; importance of websites and network marketing; standards; and the need for financing options.

Persons interested in joining the Caribbean Chapter are invited to contact Diana McIntyre Pike, Email: countrystyle@mail.infochan.com

IIPT Pakistan Chapter Opens

The IIPT Pakistan Chapter had its official opening on July 31, 2003.  The Opening featured the planting of a Peace Tree followed by a Peace Walk.  The Chapter opened with 12 members from Pakistan as well as two Italians and a Swiss person.  Some 500 persons participated in the Peace Walk in a demonstration of solidarity for peace and friendship.  Participants included both Muslims and Christians. 

The Pakistan Chapter is planning to have a Peace Conference in November and to launch a youth Chapter.  Seeds are currently being sewn for a possible India-Pakistan Symposium among tourism leaders from both countries.

IIPT Welcomes New Coalition Members

IIPT is most pleased to welcome three new members to its Coalition of Partners for World Peace through Tourism

• Adventure Business Consultants (ABC)

• East of Suez Traders Ltd - Trade & Travel

• Outdoor Tourism Business Alliance (OTBA)

• TunisAurea Voyages Culturels

• San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau