MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Advises from WTO Secretary General

“APEC summit in Punta Arenas is a major event which has concentrated representatives from the two most tourism dynamic areas in the world, Asia and Latinamerica”, said Francesco Frangialli, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization, WTO which has 144 country members, seven territories and over 300 private affiliates.

Mr. Frangialli is currently participating in the APEC tourism summit in Punta Arenas.

WTO is the leading international organization in promoting responsible, sustainable accessible tourism, and basically stimulates economic growth, creation of jobs, environment conservation and respect for cultural heritage plus promoting world peace.

Interviewed by Punta Arenas reporters Mr. Frangialli said that after three years of contraction following the 9/11 attacks and growing fear of terrorism, the tourism industry in 2004 was showing a strong recovery.

"This year we expect an above 5% expansion both in arrivals and revenue, and the region that clearly leads this tendency is Asia-Pacific", said Mr. Frangially underlining the importance of "close collaboration between Asian and American countries in tourism affairs".

WTO Secretary General also cautioned about the negative impacts, socially and environmentally, of massive tourism arrivals.

"When business is slack we forget about it, but when business picks up we must acknowledge and be very careful about these impacts".

Another issue brought up by Mr. Frangialli was not only security but crime.

"Tourists are not only looking for destinations the furthest away from conflict and terrorism areas, but also free of crime. We have opinion polls showing that small acts of vandalism and street attacks which are not linked at all with terrorist actions are becoming as important for tourists as are the war situations".

Finally regarding Patagonia Mr. Frangialli underlined that for tourists looking for special interests the area is well known, "but this is not extensive to the rest of the people; furthermore people don't differentiate Argentine or Chilean Patagonia, it's an only destination".

Therefore Mr. Frangially suggested a joint Argentine-Chilean promotion of the different tourist sites in Patagonia, "but for this to be successful, the least that can be asked is for normal circulation facilities between Chile and Argentina".