'Cultural tourism must create wealth for
all'
THE CARNIVAL in Rio is one of the most famous events on
the planet, drawing people from all over Rio de Janeiro, one of
the world's most desirable visitor destinations.
The attraction is the fabulous display of music and cultural heritage
of Brazil, but the head of a development agency said the world's
most famous carnival is not spreading the wealth to those in dire
need.
Speaking to reporters on the eve of the second summit of the World
Tourism Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development (www.worldtourismforum.org),
Lelei LeLaulu, president of Counterpart International, said the
forum will look at ways of highlighting the cultural richness of
Brazil and other developing nations in a way that creates wealth
for poverty-stricken people.
CULTURAL RICHNESS
"Brazil is an exquisite kaleidoscope of cultural richness
a heritage which should be expanded beyond one or two carnivals,
so the benefits of tourism can be grown sustainably and spread deep
into this beautiful country," asserted LeLaulu, who is one
of the forum's seven directors, along with the head of the World
Tourism Organisation (WTO), the former head of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development, the government of President
Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, the head of the French Accor Group for
Latin America, and Sergio Foguel former senior VP of Odebrecht and
now the lead organiser of the forum.
"The strong cultural focus of the Tourism Forum signals the
intention of the thousands of participants arriving in Rio to enhance
the use of cultural tourism as an instrument of community development,"
added LeLaulu of Counterpart International which works worldwide
on humanitarian and development projects.
"Thanks to the organisers, the Tourism for Peace and Sustainable
Development Foundation, we have a strong corporate buy-in to the
proceedings, which adds weight to the wealth of academic research
being presented here over the week," said LeLaulu, "because
without the solid participation of industry, our work is so much
more difficult."
Several government ministries, U.N. agencies and the WTO have joined
some of Brazil's biggest companies and international non-governmental
organisations in sponsoring the Rio meeting which is known locally
as 'Destinations'.
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