ICPTR

byu-jerusalem-june-19-21

cross-cultural-behavior-in-tourism

ethics-in-tourism

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Thank you note

First, I would like to start by saying thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you all for being here. Your presence honors our guests who have come from far to share with us. Your presence supports an idea, and an ideal. Your presence supports a member of the family, a friend, a colleague, or just somebody who, like millions of others, is trying to make a difference to make a better world for his family, for his friends, for his colleagues, and for people out there.

I call this happening Hope. No matter how smart, hard working and qualified you may be, when you come from a background like mine, to a background where those whom you just happened to look like, or have similar cultural backgrounds, are facing challenges related to lower education, are less qualified and do underpaid jobs, or engage in delinquency –Call this description perception or reality. It is a reality in my life, direct or indirect, which hopefully won’t remain a reality in the lives of my children: it is very difficult to be heard or to be given a chance to climb up the ladder of social mobility. In some similar cases intellectual capital does hardly count, but it counts even less for allochtonen or foreigners. God knows how much I dislike this word, especially when I think about my children!

That being said, I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart the persons who have made this happening a reality: Mr. Klaas-Wybo van der Hoek, our Vice President, and Mr. Robert Veenstra our President. Without the vision of Klaas-Wybo, I won’t be here talking to you, today. So, Klaas-Wybo, thank you for bringing back to me what I had once lost: Trust and Hope.

I would also like to thank the tourism management team, Ron Hekman for his friendship, our Dean Dr. Falco de Klerk Wolters for his understanding, and our secretariat for their support.

It is really difficult for me to write a speech about something that does not exist –tourism for peace lectoraat- and about which topic I know but little. I could say a lot about casino gaming management, and corresponding publications in academic gaming journals. Actually, my PhD. Dissertation is entitled “Changes in selected economic and social indicators associated with the establishment of casinos in the City of Detroit”. The Tourism for Peace Lectoraat is a timely invention which, steadily, but surely will take shape at our University.

First I am going to talk about the concept of peace in general. Afterwards I will say something about my own philosophy of peace, which will be followed by the role of education for peace, and finally the tourism for peace lectoraat’s aims and objectives, as well as tasks and activities.

Of peace and peacelessness

Circuit of Peace: A student Field Trip

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness (Mark Twain)

Travel has become one of the great forces for peace and understanding in our time. As people move throughout the world and learn to know each other, to understand each other’s customs and to appreciate the qualities of individuals of each nation, we are building a level of international understanding which can sharply improve the atmosphere of world peace (J. F. Kennedy)

Travel is education and education is travel. A journey into the world is a journey to know the other, one another, and oneself.

The intent of the field trip is to bridge cultural gaps between students of different cultures.

Tourism4Peace Forum 

An Example of Best Practice in Peace through Tourism Education

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 Preamble

The Tourism4Peace Forum was established in 2005 as an initiative by the Israel Hotel Management Association and sponsored by the Peres Center for Peace. The purpose of the creation of the forum is to advance peace through tourism by strengthening dialogue and ties between the regions and the tourism industry. The third annual meeting of the Tourism4Peace Forum was hosted for the first time outside the Middle East, in the Netherlands. The Tourism4Peace conference was organised by the Christelijke Hogeschool Nederland (CHN University) in October 31-November2, 2006.

A panel presentation included senior hospitality executives of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, The Palestinian Authority. Their presentation included a prototype tour brochure, “The Pillars of Civilization,” which illustrates their vision for regional tourism promotion. The four-country tour program offers cultural experiences, religious pilgrimages to the Holy Land and a wide variety of tourist sites and resorts.

By endorsing this vision delegates agreed among many others to 1) work towards easing freedom of movement for easier access to tourists and Palestinian tourism professionals in the area; 2) gather efforts on joint marketing and promotion activities; and 3) facilitate joint professional workshops for top hotel and travel executives in the region.

Overview

Delegates respectively presented tourism in their countries indicating respective unique selling points (USPs) but also emphasizing the cultural similarities that exist between the concerned destinations.

No borders, no boundaries, no animosity; just beautiful cultural experience

That was the message by delegate from Israel Rafi Baeri, Executive Vice President of the Dan Hotels-Israel to the students. The Tourism4Peace forum conference at the CHN university has been of an important success, not only because it has gathered delegates from the Arab world and Israel around the same table, but most importantly because it has served as an eye-opener for students -citizens of the world, future marketers, politicians, policymaker and entrepreneurs- making them more aware of the importance and power of tourism as a facilitator and beneficiary of peace.

You probably won’t believe it, but there are people in the Middle East who want peace

Janos Damon, Executive Director, Irael Hotel Manager Association

The delegates’ echoed message was that, despite the conflict, tourism does happen in their region and could and should grow even more because of the so many tourism treasures and opportunities that this part of the world offers. While the media tend to ‘over dramatise’ the situation in the Middle East, sensitise and sensationalise their media products, it is time to ‘cheer up’ a bit. The challenge of the delegates has been on focusing on, and emphasising, the other somewhat forgotten face of the Middle East. Their mission thus has been to cover the other side of the story and, through tourism, share with the people of the world the other positive realities of the region.

Lectoraat Tourism for Peace
Dr. Omar Moufakkir

This communication features an introduction to the Tourism for Peace Lectoraat, general aims and objectives of the Lectoraat, general tasks and activities, lectoraat work plan concept, activities engaged in, including conferences and accompanying presentations, the peace through tourism seminar, and the publications that are directly related to peace through tourism research. Participation in upcoming conferences, works in progress, as well as communication in press are also included.

The 1st European Conference on Tourism and Peace is organised by the Stenden University’s Tourism and Peace Lectoraat in collaboration with the IIPT, and is hosted by Stenden University in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands on October 21-24, 2008

The Conference is in support of the United Nations declared International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010), and the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. The Conference brings together senior executives from both the public and private sectors of tourism; senior officials of UN Agencies, the European Union, World Bank, UN World Tourism Organization, and other international organizations; and relevant NGO’s, as well as policy makers, educators, leading practitioners, entrepreneurs, future leaders of the industry, and senior representatives of related sectors including culture, environment and economic development.