For the Love of Wanderlust

Leha

For the Love of Wanderlust

We all love travelling, don't we? Responding to the adrenaline rush of just seeing the picture of a destination on some random internet site gets us to cook plans to take a tour to that place.

Celebrating World Tourism Day, Image Source- Business Standard

Many of us work on last-minute plans and set out to explore the unknown depths of the earth. Whether it be backpacking, trekking or a simple weekend getaway, tourism had become one of the essential components of our lives before the pandemic happened.

Therefore, the theme of World Tourism Day 2021 is “Tourism for Inclusive Growth". The biggest world crisis has opened ways for introspection. The World Tourism Organisation has thought to celebrate every person who is often forgotten behind statistics and numbers. The World Tourism Organisation invites everyone, including non-member states, to celebrate the feeling of oneness to move towards a sustainable future as the world begins to open up again.

Like, every year, let us celebrate and understand the essence of tourism. Especially calling upon the thrill-seekers and adventure lovers, this World Tourism Day invokes every single person to tune into the idea of tourism for inclusive growth.

Did you know that 27 September is celebrated as World Tourism Day? The World Tourism Organisation (UNTWO) declared this day as World Tourism Day in 1979 to mark the adoption of statutes that changed the idea of tourism. It was the brainchild of late Ignatius Amaduwa Atigbi that the UNWTO identified the importance of this day.

Many people see tourism as a mere stress reliever. But in contemporary times, tourism has emerged as one of the most important factors that contribute significantly to a nation's GDP. The fact that the global tourism industry contributed 10% of the world's GDP until 2019 is an overwhelming one. Not only this but the global tourism industry is believed to employ one out of every ten individuals in the world. Such numbers force us to recognize the importance and the impact of tourism as a commercial enterprise.

The role of tourism in promoting the social, cultural, political and economic interests of a destination makes it an invaluable enterprise.

Such a unique combination of dynamics identify the tourism industry as the driving source of socio-economic progress, as is also highlighted by World Tourism Organisation.

With the pandemic swiping the globe menacingly, the tourism industry has suffered a scathing loss. The declining number of tourists have made the analysts speculate a loss of more than $4 trillion, which would be an unrecoverable blow to the world economy. While the developing countries have shouldered the worst brunt of the pandemic, tourism experts assume that the situation will not restore to normalcy anytime soon.