UNWTO Launches AlUla Framework for Community Development

AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Reuters file photo
AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Reuters file photo
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UNWTO Launches AlUla Framework for Community Development

AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Reuters file photo
AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Reuters file photo

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has launched the “AlUla Framework for Inclusive Community Development Through Tourism”, with a set of transformative tourism practices sustaining livelihoods in local communities.

Tourism Ministers of the G20 nations have committed to stepping up their efforts to place sustainability and inclusion at the heart of tourism recovery and future growth. The implementation of the Framework, presented on the occasion of the Ministerial Meeting, was welcomed by the G20 Tourism Ministers as a tool for achieving a fairer and more inclusive sector.

The Framework provides specific recommendations and tools to support both governments as well as all other key stakeholders in the tourism sector – including regional and local governments, the private sector, industry associations, civil society, communities and tourists – fostering a truly holistic and integrated approach to inclusive community development through tourism.

Calling for a model of tourism development based on Public-Private-Community (PPC) partnerships, the Framework includes a set of concrete programs and initiatives based around four pillars of action – empowerment, safeguarding, prosperity and collaboration. It further defines the key areas of measurement for the impact of tourism in the communities in line with the Measuring Sustainable Tourism Initiative, led by UNWTO.



Southern China Suspends Ferry Services as Storm Brings Winds, High Waters to Coastal Regions

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, coconut trees hit by typhoon Yagi along a road in Haikou, south China’s Hainan Province, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, coconut trees hit by typhoon Yagi along a road in Haikou, south China’s Hainan Province, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Xinhua via AP)
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Southern China Suspends Ferry Services as Storm Brings Winds, High Waters to Coastal Regions

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, coconut trees hit by typhoon Yagi along a road in Haikou, south China’s Hainan Province, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, coconut trees hit by typhoon Yagi along a road in Haikou, south China’s Hainan Province, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (Xinhua via AP)

Parts of coastal southern China suspended ferry services as a major storm passed into the South China Sea, bringing high winds and heavy waves to much of the region.

The storm was downgraded Wednesday from Typhoon Man-yi, which left seven dead in the Philippines and worsened the crisis caused by back-to-back storms that battered the disaster-prone nation.

It is now categorized as a low-pressure area lingering south of China’s Hainan Island, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which said its maximum sustained winds were a relatively mild 40 kilometers (25 miles) per hour.

Climatologists have predicted a greater frequency of such storms, but better preparedness and early warning systems in the Asia Pacific nations most affected have helped mitigate some of the most dire consequences.

Higher sea temperatures caused by a warming climate are increasing the amount of moisture in the air and extending the typhoon season from its usual annual end point of September. Europe, particularly Spain, and the southeastern United States have also experienced devastating storms in recent weeks.