MOSCOW, September 21 – Project “Russia-China: The main thing “ . China hosted a meeting of tourism ministers from the five largest developing BRICS countries. During the videoconference, the participants discussed “green” and sustainable tourism, as well as options for solving the problems caused by the pandemic.
Tourism is an important aspect of cooperation between the BRICS countries and plays a key role in promoting development. However, the reality is that this topic has to be discussed online. Tourism ministers from Brazil , Russia , India , China and South Africa met virtually to talk about sustainable tourism development and supporting the industry during the pandemic.
“BRICS tourism is facing challenges caused by the pandemic. Our mission and responsibility is to use the ministerial meetings to promote the recovery of the tourism sector in the BRICS countries.”
Participants discussed green and sustainable tourism, as well as ways to accelerate the digital transformation of this sector and methods to reduce poverty through the development of the travel industry.
“The tourist flow between Russia and the BRICS countries before the pandemic reached 4.5 billion trips. Due to the developed transport links and geographic proximity, China, of course, had the largest number of trips – about three million trips. However, Russia is interested in strengthening and expanding tourist relations with all BRICS countries”.
South African Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu: “We have introduced a number of legislative initiatives and are constantly guided by them. For example, we have a white paper on the promotion of travel in South Africa, which defines the sustainable development of tourism in our country.”
As a result of the virtual meeting, the participants published a very real communiqué. The document highlights the importance of the recovery of the tourism industry, especially within the framework of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and also calls for strengthening the dialogue and cooperation mechanism between governments, enterprises, institutions, industry organizations and all stakeholders.