World Tourism Day: All you need to know about why the day is celebrated and theme of 2019

World Tourism Day is celebrated every year by the United Nations World Tourism Organization since 1980 on 27 September. This date was chosen to be so because, on that day in 1970, the Statutes of the UNWTO were adopted. Travelling has become a major source of revenue for several countries across the globe in the last several decades. The advent of social media has also paved a way for the exhibitionism of our lives. The aim of the day is to raise awareness about the role of tourism and to focus on the fact that travelling has a major social, cultural, political and economic effect on all of our lives. [caption id=“attachment_4144801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational Image. Pexels[/caption] The theme was “Sustainable Tourism” in 2017. In 2018, it was “Tourism and the Digital Transformation”. The theme for this year is “Tourism and Jobs — A Better Future For All”. “Tourism’s role in job creation is often undervalued, and hence, new policies are needed to maximize tourism’s potential to create more and better jobs, especially for women and youth, reflect and incorporate ongoing advances in technology, and to address the current mismatch between tourism skills that are taught and those that tourism employers need,” said the UN. “That is why, in 2019, in line with United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s overarching focus on skills, education and jobs throughout the year, World Tourism Day will be a celebration on the topic ‘Tourism and Jobs: a better future for all,’ it added. Because of tourism’s labour-intensive nature, it is starting to be a major source of employment for many in the world. In addition to that, tourism jobs oft have a multiplier effect, and the UNWTO has found that one job in the sector creates about one-and-a-half additional or indirect jobs in tourism-related economies. Every year, the day is hosted by a certain country. In 2003, at the 15th session in Beijing, China, the announcement to host the celebration for this day were listed in this order: 2006 in Europe, 2007 in South Asia, 2008 in the Americas, 2009 in Africa and 2011 in the Middle East. In this year, for the first time, India will host World Tourism Day in its national capital, New Delhi. The tourism sector is the boon and survival for the economies for several countries, as revenue generation increases significantly due to it. “Data from UNWTO says of 10 jobs generated in the world, one is from the tourism sector. But we have to make tourism a sustainable sector by incorporating local communities, thereby alleviating their poverty and also sensitize them towards nature,” as reported by Times of India. World Tourism Day is also celebrated because the more an individual travels, the more they get to see how countries offer a range of vast tourism choices. Countries are diverse in their land, people, cuisine, tribes, faiths, music, dance forms, arts, adventure, crafts, sport, history and spirituality.