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4 Sep, 2017

Sponsorship support grows for landmark SDG publication, The Olive Tree

Bangkok — The September-October 2017 of The Olive Tree, the first and only publication designed to help travel & tourism become a more enthusiastic part of the solution in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, has just been published. Click here to download FREE.

September is an important month for global travel & tourism. The Olive Tree Edition III commemorates both the International Day of Peace (Sept 21) and World Tourism Day (Sept 27). As the theme of this year’s World Tourism Day is Sustainability, the conceptual content of this edition focuses on both peace and sustainability.

Launched in May 2017 with the endorsement of PATA and the sole sponsorship support of Jetwing Hotels, Sri Lanka, The Olive Tree has now gained additional sponsorship support of the Macao Government Tourist Office, Asian Overland Services and its subsidiary Frangipani Langkawi Resort and Spa.

In her message of support, MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said it was important for the travel & tourism industry to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into its corporate objectives and put them into practice. She voiced “hope this publication will facilitate existing dialogues on sustainable development to carry forward the agenda and the opening of new dialogues as we strive to attain these goals.”

This month, Macao will host the PATA Travel Mart between September 13-15.

In his message of support, Anthony Wong, Group MD of Asian Overland Services and Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa said that the industry has changed significantly over the last few decades, “but one thing that has yet to change is our own industry mindset.”

He added, “Because we sell dreams for a living, we in travel & tourism often see the world through rose-tinted glasses. Minus those glasses, a more realistic picture of the world emerges. The UN Sustainable Development Goals are designed as solutions to the problems of the “real world”. A mindset reset will help travel & tourism deal objectively and realistically with those same problems, all of which, sooner or later, affect us too.”

In line with those core objectives and messages, Edition III of The Olive Tree contains contains five items of critical relevance to the youth, the emerging millennials who unfortunately are en route to inheriting a world that is neither at peace nor sustainable, thanks to the mistakes of the outgoing generation.

Two thought-provoking items are the interview with UN Youth Envoy Jayathma Wickramanayake on how the global youth can lead implementation of the SDG agenda and the interview with outgoing UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien on preventing conflict.

Another three items are about stepped-up efforts to measure the progress of the SDG challenge, which will make it possible to analyse the return on investment and resource allocation. One very important item is targeted at educators, and offers guidance on how to teach the SDGs.

The lead story highlights the global essay competition on promoting the SDGs organised with UN support. That project has motivated Travel Impact Newswire to initiate the first such essay competition specifically for the travel & tourism industry. Details will be published on the website: www.travel-impact-newswire.com.

The wealth of data, policies, projects and information resources compiled in The Olive Tree Edition III should help readers take a broader and far-sighted view of this industry of peace, and strive to influence change rather than be influenced by it.