European Representative Office

Summary of the Ministerial Conference on relaunching Tourism in Tsunami affected Countries

Milan, 12 Feb

Ministers of Tourism, Ambassadors and representatives of Tsunami affected countries (Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Seychelles), as well as the Asian Development Bank participated in a conference organized by the Italian Government in Milan, Italy on the occasion of the Borsa Internazionale del Turismo, 12 February. Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Margherita Boniver, launched the conference.

Representatives of Tsunami affected countries elaborated on action taken since the disaster and assistance received. They emphasized to the tourism industry that most tourism facilities have been restored and large parts of their countries have not been affected by the earthquake and Tsunami disaster. They confirmed that tourism is an important part of their economy and their respective countries are safe tourism destinations.

RDG, ERO highlighted that ADB is confident that Tsunami affected countries will quickly recover because of their strong resilience, coordinated international assistance and positive impact of reconstruction. Governments of affected countries are leading the reconstruction process based on joint needs assessments done with major donors. Large portions of the local population might fall again into poverty and it is, therefore, critical to relaunch economic activities such as tourism, fisheries and agriculture to help restore people's livelihood in affected areas.