The 90th Session of the OECD Tourism Committee & OECD/APEC Tourism Working Group Forum, jointly hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) took place at Deogyusan Resort in Muju, Jeollabuk-do, from Sept. 24-26. 

Among the roughly 150 attendees at the conference and the symposium were MCST Minister Choe Kwang-sik; Jeollabuk-do Gov. Kim Wan-ju; Yves Lecterme, deputy secretary general of the OECD; Isabell Hill, chair of the OECD Tourism Committee; Sergio Arzeni, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development at the OECD; Javier Guillermo of APEC, chair of the APEC Tourism Working Group; as well as tourism policymaking representatives from 32 countries, including 21 OECD member countries & other OECD Enhanced Engagement countries and APEC countries. 

MCST Minister Choe said in his welcome speech at the dinner on Sept. 24, “Korea will push a multifaceted approach to enhance tourism’s role as an economic industry and its competitive edge.”

The Day 1 session of the OECD Tourism Committee focused on the need for each government’s establishment of policies suitable to the tourism industry, which has a great impact on the national economy. 

The participants shared the view that the tourism industry takes up a huge portion of each OECD member’s service economy, taking the initiative in shifting into a green economy as an essential factor behind economic growth by accounting for about 5 percent of the global GDP and 6 to 7 percent of global direct employment opportunities.

In particular, the outcomes of the “Green Business Model Innovation” project, jointly conducted by the OECD and Nordic Innovation, were unveiled. The success stories of 28 green tourism companies belonging to 10 OECD member countries, including Korea’s COEX, Yongpyong Resort, and the InterContinental Hotel, were presented. 

In this regard, Deputy Secretary-General Lecterme said when it comes to the exploring of a new source of growth on the part of many governments, innovation is essential, and the tourism industry, which has seen the highest growth rates across the world by creating good jobs and contributing to exporting services by spearheading innovation, may offer more opportunities for growth. 

Member countries pointed out that the World Economic Forum’s travel and tourism competitiveness indicators heavily focused on rankings. They told the OECD Tourism Committee meeting that when it come to measuring travel and tourism competitiveness, not only economic values of the industry, but also productivity, education & technology, price & tax, access probability & infrastructure, restrictions & governance, and innovation should be taken into account. 

The OECD Tourism Committee chair praised Korea’s role in adding the tourism industry to 26 action tasks contained in the outcomes of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Brazil from June 20-22, 2012, and it has contributed to an increased awareness of the industry’s essential role in the global economy in the long-term perspective.

Korea chaired and hosted the 2010 G20 Summit and the 2nd T.20 Tourism Ministers’ Meeting in 2010 and played a bridge between the G20 and T.20. The nation also played a role in setting tourism as one of global agendas at the Rio+20 Summit.