I am honored to join you in the closing of this 19th Inter-American Travel Congress. I thank the Government of El Salvador for hosting the 19th Inter-American Travel Congress, and want to especially recognize the excellent leadership of El Salvador´s Tourism Minister Jose Napoleon Duarte and his team, and his commitment to ensuring the success of this Congress. I am particularly pleased with the selection of the theme of this 19th Congress… Tourism: A Challenge for Addressing Poverty because it allowed for a focused discussion on strategies for promoting community inclusion and participation in sustainable tourism development.

Thank you, Minister Duarte, you and your government have made an enormous contribution to place tourism, jobs and poverty reduction at the center of a sustainable growth agenda in the Americas! And that includes the feast you offered us all last night, the sumptuous meal and the folklore of El Salvador and the richness of dances of the Americas. This is an example of how life in the Americas can indeed be better if we focus on the positive, on what is good, on what builds pride, on what unites us rather than on what divides us. Tourism can meaningfully contribute to this objective!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I trust that in these two days of meetings you have taken advantage of the exchange of experiences and best practices from your respective countries and that these exchange will result in the adoption of joint initiatives to promote the competitiveness and sustainability of tourism to create jobs and reduce poverty in the Americas.

Although only eight years have elapsed since we last met in Guatemala in June 2003, our countries face a very different global context. The financial and economic crisis has without exception negatively affected the tourism sector, and with that the employment and national income in our countries. Tourism is one of the economic activities that allowed the region to recover from the recent global financial crisis, because the demand to recreate, to relax and to travel continues.

At the same time competition among countries and tourist operators is increasing. This reinforces the need to place tourism as a priority in national policies and I would dare to suggest that tourism, in the context of a short term economic recovery strategy, should be at the center of a new governance to promote job creation, poverty reduction and social equality.

Ladies and gentlemen, in these two days you had the opportunity to address core elements for the competitiveness and sustainability of this sector in light of the current global crisis. I would like to highlight two of these elements: the challenges of sustainable tourism in the Americas and the topic of SMEs as axes of sustainable tourism development.
In recent years, we have experienced a combination of a global financial crisis, a food crisis, volatile oil prices, accelerating ecosystem degradation and an increasing number of climate-induced weather events.

Just two days ago, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean released a study which estimates that climate change will cost the Caribbean up to 5% of its annual GDP between 2011 and 2050, if actions for mitigating and adaptation are not pursued.

The cost of 5% of a country or region´s GDP means more poverty, unemployment and less resources to allocate to the competitiveness of our tourism industry. We all know what this negative environment potentially can lead to: instability, inequality and insecurity, together affecting the sustainability of our economies and the democratic foundations of our societies.

You all have a key role in promoting steps to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change within the tourism industry, in particular promoting the high value of biodiversity for tourism, assessing the way that tourism can contribute to the protection of biodiversity and enhancing its role as a main resource for tourism destinations. Actions on biodiversity and tourism should be pursued by governments in coordination with the private sector, international organizations, NGOs and communities.

And today, I call on you, Ministers and Tourism Authorities, to join forces in ensuring a common approach to urgently develop policies and mechanisms to mitigate the impact of tourist activities on climate change and to face the impact of climate change in the tourism industry, and act as required.

The upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) represents an opportunity for the countries of the region to consider and adopt measures for moving toward a model of development that will meet the needs of the present without compromising the resources and prospects of future generations; and sustainable tourism should be at the center of this model of integral development. We need a holistic approach to overcome these threats to our societies and we need to act now!

And there can be little doubt that small and medium-sized enterprises play an important part in the competitiveness of the tourism sector. The most significant units of supply in most locations are SMEs and, often, micro enterprises. Thus, tourism businesses are contributing to poverty reduction and a more equitable distribution of wealth in our region. And the adoption of joint initiatives at the regional and hemispheric levels to enhance the competitiveness of the SMEs in the tourism sector will continue to boost the impact of the sector on poverty reduction.

And here, I call on you again to coordinate efforts with other ministries to create the best conducive business environment within which tourism SMEs are able to flourish, including a transparent fiscal and regulatory framework, the availability of capital for investment, the availability of skilled labor, and the quality and productivity of tourism’s labor forces, promoting environmental sustainability for green growth, and to stimulate innovation among SMEs to help shape destination development.

Equally, inter-regional cooperation between countries and sub-regional specialized agencies is necessary to optimize the benefits of opportunities and to collectively and effectively address common challenges. The same goes for a closer collaboration between the private sector and governments, so as to create the best conditions for a prosperous tourism market.

I am confident that after your constructive deliberations over these two days and with the approval of the two thematic areas under the framework of FEMCIDI (Competitiveness of the Tourism Industry, particularly of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and Promoting the Sustainable Development of Tourism through the mitigation of negative environmental impacts) we have clear guidance on the priority areas for the OAS to support the ongoing work of member states.

We welcome the leadership of the Minister Duarte in putting forward a proposal for the establishment of a voluntary Hemispheric Tourism Fund to support communities in extreme poverty. While the precise details of this mechanism will need to be properly defined, this proposal could have a great impact in helping achieve the objective of this 19th Congress, and foster collaboration between countries and sub-regions.

In addition, we want to consolidate and expand on the successes of our flagship program Small Tourism Enterprise program (STEP), and replicate where possible and transfer successful programs from and to different sub-regions. The opportunities for sharing country experiences will be an integral part of the type of cooperation that the OAS can facilitate and will go a long way toward boosting tourism and enhancing the impact that the tourism sector can have in our economies and populations.

Before closing, I would like take this opportunity to recognize the work of the OAS General Secretariat and the support provided by the Office of Tourism, which serves as Technical Secretariat to the Inter-American Travel Congress, and by the OAS Department of Conferences and Meetings.

Ladies and gentlemen, I once again take this opportunity to thank all of you for being here today. This gathering is an important step for raising awareness of the important role of tourism in our economies and populations.

The need for a regional dialogue such as the Inter-American Travel Congress is more relevant than ever as the region faces challenges of global nature which not only demand a coordinated response, but the need to build and strengthen existing strategic alliances within countries, with the business community and between sub-regions.

I am confident that regional collaboration will help improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the tourism industry in the Americas.

I thank you very much for your attention and wish you safe travels!