VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - #   
   DATE 02-07-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - One billion tourists, one billion opportunities   
      
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    One billion tourists, one billion opportunities   
    Vatican City, 2 July 2015 (VIS) - "One billion tourists, one billion   
   opportunities" is the title of the Message for World Tourism Day 2015 (27   
   September), published today by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of   
   Migrants and Itinerant Peoples. The Message, dated 24 June, was signed by   
   Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio and Bishop Joseph Kalathiparambil, respectively   
   president and secretary of the dicastery.   
    The document, as its title indicates, focuses on the opportunities and   
   challenges that the great increase in tourism represents for contemporary   
   society and notes that the concept of the "tourist" is increasingly being   
   substituted by that of the "traveller", who does not merely visit a place but   
   rather, in a sense, becomes an integral part of it. In the light of Pope   
   Francis' Encyclical "Laudato si'", the Message highlights that the tourism   
   sector, by promoting appreciation of natural and cultural wealth, can promote   
   their conservation or, paradoxically, their destruction. The Message finally   
   invites the transformation of travel into "an existential experience".   
    "It was 2012 when the symbolic barrier of one billion international tourist   
   arrivals was surpassed. Now the numbers continue to grow so much that the   
   forecasts estimate a new threshold of two billion will be reached in 2030. To   
   this data even higher figures related to local tourism must be added.   
    For World Tourism Day we want to concentrate on the opportunities and   
   challenges raised by these statistics, and for this we make the theme proposed   
   by the World Tourism Organisation our own: 'One billion tourists, one billion   
   opportunities'.   
    This growth launches a challenge to all the sectors involved in this global   
   phenomenon: tourists, businesses, governments and local communities and, of   
   course, the Church too. The billion tourists should necessarily be considered   
   above all in their billion opportunities.   
    This message is being made public a few days after the presentation of Pope   
   Francis' Encyclical Laudato si' dedicated to care for our common home. We need   
   to take this text into great consideration because it offers important   
   guidelines to follow in our attention to the world of tourism.   
    We are in a phase of change in which the way of moving is changing and   
   consequently the experience of travelling as well. Those who go to countries   
   different from their own do so with the more or less conscious desire to   
   reawaken the most hidden part of themselves through encounter, sharing and   
   confrontation. More and more, a tourist is in search of direct contact with   
   what   
   is different in its extra-ordinariness.   
    By now the classic concept of a 'tourist' is fading while that of a   
   'traveller'   
   has become stronger: that is, someone who does not limit himself to visiting a   
   place but in some way becomes an integral part of it. The 'citizen of the   
   world'   
   is born: no longer to see but to belong, not to look around but to experience,   
   no longer to analyse but to take part in, and not without respect for what and   
   whom he encounters.   
    In his latest Encyclical, Pope Francis invites us to approach nature with   
   'openness to awe and wonder' and to speak 'the language of fraternity and   
   beauty   
   in our relationship with the world'. This is the right approach to adopt with   
   regard to the places and peoples we visit. This is the road to seizing a   
   billion   
   opportunities and making them bear even more fruits.   
    The businesses in this sector are the first ones who should be committed to   
   achieving the common good. The responsibilities of companies is great, also in   
   the tourist area, and to take advantage of the billion opportunities they need   
   to be aware of this. The final objective should not be profit as much as   
   offering travellers accessible roads to achieving the experience they are   
   looking for. And businesses have to do this with respect for people and the   
   environment. It is important not to lose awareness of people's faces. Tourists   
   cannot be reduced only to a statistic or a source of revenue. Forms of tourist   
   business need to be implemented that are studied with and for individuals and   
   invest in individuals and sustainability so as to offer work opportunities in   
   respect for our common home.   
    At the same time, governments have to guarantee respect for the laws and   
   create   
   new ones that can protect the dignity of individuals, communities and the   
   territory. A resolute attitude is essential. Also in the tourist area, the   
   civil   
   authorities of the different countries need to have shared strategies to create   
   globalised socio-economic networks in favour of local communities and   
   travellers   
   in order to take positive advantage of the billion opportunities offered by the   
   interaction.   
    From this viewpoint, also the local communities are called to open up their   
   borders to welcome those who come from other countries moved by a thirst for   
   knowledge, a unique occasion for reciprocal enrichment and common growth.   
   Giving   
   hospitality enables the environmental, social and cultural potentialities to   
   bear fruit, to create new jobs, to develop one's identity, and to bring out the   
   value of the territory. A billion opportunities for progress, especially for   
   countries that are still developing. To increase tourism, especially in its   
   most   
   responsible forms, makes it possible to head towards the future strong with   
   one's specificity, history and culture. Generating income and promoting the   
   specific heritage can reawaken that sense of pride and self-esteem useful for   
   strengthening the host communities' dignity, but care is always needed to not   
   betray the territory, traditions and identity in favour of the tourists. It is   
   in the local communities where there can grow 'a greater sense of   
   responsibility, a strong sense of community, a readiness to protect others, a   
   spirit of creativity and a deep love for the land. They are also concerned   
   about   
   what they will eventually leave to their children and grandchildren'.   
    One billion tourists, if well received, can become an important source of   
   well-being and sustainable development for the entire planet. Moreover, the   
   globalisation of tourism leads to the rise of an individual and collective   
   civic   
   sense. Each traveller, by adopting a more correct criterion for moving around   
   the world, becomes an active part in safeguarding the earth. One individual's   
   effort multiplied by a billion becomes a great revolution.   
    On a voyage, a desire for authenticity is also hidden which is realised in the   
   spontaneity of relations and getting involved in the communities visited. The   
   need is growing to get away from the virtual, which is so capable of creating   
   distances and impersonal acquaintances, and to rediscover the genuineness of an   
   encounter with others. The economy of sharing can also build a network through   
   which humanity and fraternity increase and can generate a fair exchange of   
   goods   
   and services.   
    Tourism also represents a billion opportunities for the Church's evangelising   
   mission. 'Nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts'.   
   First   
   of all, it is important for the Church to accompany Catholics with liturgical   
   and formative proposals. She should also illuminate those who during the   
   experience of travelling open their hearts and ask themselves questions and in   
   this way make a real first proclamation of the Gospel. It is essential for the   
   Church to go forth and be close to travellers in order to offer an appropriate   
   and individual answer to their inner search. By opening her heart to others,   
   the   
   Church makes a more authentic encounter with God possible. With this goal,   
   hospitality by the parish communities and the religious formation of tourist   
   personnel should be enhanced.   
    The Church's task is also to educate to living free time. The Holy Father   
   reminds us that 'Christian spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation   
   and   
   festivity. We tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and   
   unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most important   
   about work: its meaning. We are called to include in our work a dimension of   
   receptivity and gratuity, which is quite different from mere inactivity'.   
    Moreover, we should not forget Pope Francis' convocation to celebrate the Holy   
   Year of Mercy. We have to ask ourselves how the pastoral care of tourism and   
   pilgrimages can be an area to 'experience the love of God who consoles,   
   pardons,   
   and instils hope'. A particular sign of this jubilee time will undoubtedly be   
   the pilgrimage.   
    Faithful to her mission and starting from the conviction that 'we also   
   evangelize when we attempt to confront the various challenges which can arise',   
   the Church cooperates in making tourism a means for the development of peoples,   
   especially the most disadvantaged ones, and setting in motion simple but   
   effective projects. However, the Church and institutions should always be   
   vigilant to prevent a billion opportunities from becoming a billion dangers by   
   cooperating in the safeguard of personal dignity, workers' rights, cultural   
   identity, respect for the environment, and so on.   
    One billion opportunities also for the environment: 'The entire material   
   universe speaks of God's love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water,   
   mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God'. Between tourism and the   
   environment there is a close interdependency. The tourist sector, by taking   
   advantage of the natural and cultural riches, can promote their conservation   
   or,   
   paradoxically, their destruction. In this relationship, the Encyclical Laudato   
   si' appears to be a good travelling companion.   
    Many times we pretend we do not see the problem. 'Such evasiveness serves as a   
   license to carrying on with our present lifestyles and models of production and   
   consumption'. By acting not as masters but with 'responsible stewardship', each   
   one has his or her obligations that must be made concrete in precise actions   
   that range from specific, coordinated legislation down to simple everyday   
   actions, passing through appropriate educational programs and sustainable and   
   respectful tourist projects. Everything has its importance, but a change in   
   lifestyles and attitudes is necessary and surely more important. 'Christian   
   spirituality proposes a growth marked by moderation and the capacity to be   
   happy   
   with little'.   
    The tourism sector can be an opportunity, indeed, one billion opportunities   
   for   
   building roads to peace too. Encounter, exchange and sharing favour harmony and   
   understanding.   
    There are one billion occasions to transform a voyage into an existential   
   experience. One billion possibilities to become the makers of a better world,   
   aware of the riches contained in every traveller's suitcase. One billion   
   tourists, one billion opportunities to become 'instruments of God our Father,   
   so   
   that our planet might be what he desired when he created it and correspond with   
   his plan for peace, beauty and fullness'".   
      
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