By Verghese V Joseph –
Vatican: The 41st World Tourism Day occurs this year in the uncertain context marked by the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, whose end is not yet in sight. The result is a drastic reduction in human mobility and tourism, both international and national, reaching historic lows.
Taking cognisance of the situation, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, shared his thoughts on the occasion of World Tourism Day, which is celebrated every year on September 27.
The suspension of international flights, the closure of airports and borders, the adoption of severe travel restrictions, including domestic ones, is causing an unprecedented crisis in many sectors related to the tourism industry. It is feared that in the worst case scenario, at the end of 2020 there will be a decrease of about one billion international tourists, with a global economic loss of about $ 1,200 billion. This would result in a huge loss of jobs in the entire tourism sector, global lockdown, with millions of jobs at risk in one of the most labour-intensive sectors of the economy.
In his Cardinal Turkson’s words, “This disturbing scenario, unthinkable a few months ago, must not paralyze us and deprive us of a positive vision of the future. In this sense, Pope Francis affirmed: “Worse than this crisis there is only the drama of wasting it […] Now, in the great effort to start again, how harmful is pessimism, seeing everything black, repeating that nothing will come back anymore like before!”
Lining up his thoughts to bring back the sector on the path to growth, the Cardinal encouraged bishops and those responsible for the pastoral care of tourism for a joint commitment, so that everyone, in their own territory, can take concrete initiatives to help tourism activities. The faithful and parishes respond with solicitude and generosity to the needs and requirements of tourism workers, who are in difficulty today, and together develop networks of proximity in relationships and help to support lost income. New routes for tourist use of rural areas are built, in which to combine respect for the environment and opportunities for sustenance for local tourist operators.”
Tourism and rural development
The theme – Tourism and rural development – chosen before the COVID-19 emergency providentially indicates one of the roads towards a possible recovery of the tourism sector. It begins with the invitation to take seriously and put into practice sustainable development which, in the field of tourism, means a greater interest in extra-urban tourist destinations, small villages, hamlets, roads and little-known and less frequented places: those most hidden places to discover or rediscover precisely because they are more enchanting and uncontaminated. Rurality lives in these places, far from the tourist routes of crowds. It is, therefore, the promotion of sustainable and responsible tourism which, implemented according to principles of social and economic justice and in full respect of the environment and cultures, recognizes the centrality of the host local community and its right to be a protagonist in the sustainable and socially responsible development of its territory; a tourism that favors the positive interaction between the tourism industry, the local community and travellers.
This type of tourism can become a driving force to support the rural economy, which is made up of agriculture and, often, family farms, small size, marginal areas and low income received from the food chain. Tourism and rural agriculture can thus become two essential components of a new world that one hopes to build. Tourism made by people and through people. Small farmers, after all, are the first custodians of creation through their patient and laborious tillage of the land. Tourists are visitors who can become supporters of an ecosystem, if they travel in a conscious and sober way. Traveling towards rural destinations, then, can mean, concretely, supporting local production, small farm businesses, made in a way compatible with the laws of nature. Thus, a journey can have the flavour of history and open the heart to the broad horizon of fraternity and solidarity.
“Tourism can become, in this period, a tool of proximity. Yes, our postmodern world needs proximity, that is, closeness in relationships, and therefore hearts. And tourism, which in any case involves the movement of people and goods, must now show its transformative face, as a recreational activity that makes the spirit of fraternity grow among peoples,” the Cardinal said.
Tourism that knows how to look at and share the gifts of the land in rural areas also becomes the way to learn new lifestyles, in a concrete way. The wisdom of those who cultivate the earth, made of observation and expectation, can certainly help the fast-paced modern world to harmonize the times of daily life with natural ones. Bringing together tourism and rural development is a good way to learn new cultures, to let oneself be contaminated by the values of the care of creation and the protection of creation which, today, represent not only a moral duty but an urgent need for collective action.
“Rural tourism” thus becomes the place to learn a new way of relating with others and with nature. And every personal change must begin with truly transformative behaviours; to do this it is necessary to set out; and to set out on the road you need a goal: the rural world can be all this. Tourism meets development if it takes place in a careful and peaceful, sustainable way; this means respecting agricultural practices, the rhythms of life of rural populations, appreciating the still preserved authenticity of entire inland areas, being surprised by the thousand little things that can be seen, choosing local agricultural products. In this way it is possible to grasp the differences, small or large, between traditions, places and communities encountered. So why not turn to a tourism that enhances rural and marginal areas by meeting them while walking? This will allow us to slow down and avoid the risks of frenzy, he added.
In a period of uncertainty in the movements of people, of which tourism suffers the greatest consequences in an immediate and direct way, we believe that we must act to support the incomes of workers in this sector, as well as for the care and defense of communities, more fragile rural areas in each territory. By doing so, the tourist economy will be able to resume its course, albeit at lower levels of circulation; the circulation of people, goods and money will be the tangible sign of a proximity that began in the heart. Responsible and sustainable tourism, making the most of local resources and activities, is desirable as one of the turning points in the fight against poverty, which the COVID-19 pandemic has increased exponentially.
Cardinal offered the church’s closeness and support to all those who are committed to countering the impact of the pandemic on the lives of individuals and companies that live on tourism. “We appeal to the rulers and to those responsible for national economic policies to promote and encourage responsible tourism, implemented according to principles of social and economic justice and in full respect of the environment and cultures. The rulers turn their gaze to the marginal areas, giving these territories concrete opportunities for development, enhancing their particular vocations, the participation of local communities in decision-making processes, improvement of the income of those who work the land,” he added.
He also encouraged ecological movements and to all those who are committed to defending the environment so that they contribute with their work to the conversion of hearts towards a healthy and correct integral ecology, “in which the value of the human person is combined with the protection of living conditions of rural communities settled in marginal areas. Economic planning has as its reference the defense of the poor and the weakest subjects of the economic cycle; rural agriculture workers are considered direct recipients of significant economic and financial aid and of projects to recover and promote rural family agriculture.”