Off the wire
• Kenya, AfDB sign 62.3 mln USD deal to boost agriculture  • U.S. stocks trade higher around midday despite soft data  • Seven cases of Zika virus, including pregnant woman, reported in Spain  • LME base metals increase on Thursday  • China Focus: New Year homecoming not always a happy ride  • CCDI warns of corruption risks after inspections  • Morocco launches 1st phase of world's largest solar energy plant  • Syrians promised 10-bln-dollar aid at London conference  • Indian PM pays tribute to soldiers dead in avalanche in Indian-controlled Kashmir  • Violence increasing in eastern Ukraine: OSCE  
You are here: 　 Home

Experts, officials call for "spirit of tourism" against terrorism at Istanbul forum

Xinhua, February 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

A "spirit of tourism" should be revived to help a global war against terrorism, industry professionals and officials said here on Thursday.

"We all need to remember the spirit of tourism to fight against terrorism, which has been constraining our freedom of travel by creating a sense of fear," said Turkey's Minister of Culture and Tourism Mahir Unal at a forum on world tourism.

He noted that tourism, as the most significant driving power for peace, brotherhood and unity, has a "healing effect" in the field of international relations.

Referring to the ongoing rift between Turkey and Russia, the minister said tourism should be supported regardless of problems between states, and it should "not be used as a means of sanctions."

Russia has imposed a set of sanctions against Turkey, including barring tourist travels, after Ankara shot down a Russian warplane in November.

The Turkish Tourism Ministry is expecting to lose 4.5 million tourists from Russia this year alone, with a loss of some 7 billion U.S. dollars in revenue.

Turkey's tourism revenue fell by 8.3 percent to 31.46 billion dollars in 2015, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.

The security concern in Turkey was fueled even further in January, when a suicide bomber targeted Istanbul's most visited Sultanahmet Square, killing 11 German tourists.

At the forum on tourism in Istanbul, a special focus was given to the massive inflow of Syrian refugees into Europe.

Jose Manuel Barroso, former head of the European Commission, criticized European countries for closing their borders in a bid to stop the influx of refugees.

He said that curtailing the freedom of movement would be a mistake. "That is exactly what terrorists want, to put pressure on our lives and on open societies that we have," he remarked.

He warned that the refugee influx, combined with terrorist attacks, has promoted xenophobia across Europe, which in return disrupts the freedom of travel.

European countries should create more rational ways to prevent the flow of refugees other than closing their borders, he added.

The three-day forum drew some 7,000 industry professionals and officials from around the world. Endit