UN-backed meeting urges support for Indonesian tourism after terror bombings

Delegates from 80 countries attending a United Nations World Tourism Organization (WTO) conference have called for international support to help Indonesia’s tourist industry recover from last week’s terrorist bombings on the resort island of Bali.

“Delegates denounce in the strongest terms possible the despicable and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent civilians and visitors,” declared a resolution adopted unanimously at the WTO World Conference on ‘Tourism Satellite Account: Understanding Tourism and Designing Strategies’ being held at Iguazu, Argentina under the auspices of the country’s governments along with those of Brazil and Paraguay.

The delegates “encourage WTO to provide the same assistance as after the bombings in 2002 and after the tsunami, and are convinced that the tourism industry has the strength and resilience to bounce back as it has done before and will continue to provide jobs, income and a better future for the people of Bali and Indonesia,” it added.

The Madrid-based agency earlier this year tried to mitigate the adverse effects of the Indian Ocean tsunami, urging tourists to return to devastated countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand and Indonesia, so as not to slow the recovery of an important economic sector.

Likewise in July it offered Egypt its full support in helping the country to surmount the negative impact on its flourishing tourism industry from terrorist bombings at the Sharm el-Sheikh resort.