The Welcome Address of Hon. Narzalina Lim at the Metro Manila Conference

This is the transcript of the welcome address delivered by Hon. Narzalina Z. Lim, Eco-Mismo Conference Chairperson, President of Asia Pacific Projects, Inc., Tourism and Hospitality Consultants, and former secretary of the Department of Tourism.


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I am honored to have been invited by my former boss, President Fidel V. Ramos, to chair this Conference and thank him for initiating this, and the series of conferences to follow, on such an important subject – sustainable tourism development.

Tourism is one of the biggest and fastest-growing industries in the world. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization or UNWTO, there were 900 million international arrivals in 2007, a growth of 6% - well above its forecast of 4.1%. This growth was significant, considering weak economies; terrorist activities worldwide; the volatility of fuel prices; natural disasters; and health pandemics. Our region, the Asia Pacific Region, is the fastest growing tourism region. Visitor arrivals rose 10.2% to 184.9 million in 2007, driven largely by the two best performing subregions – Southeast Asia, where the Philippines belongs, and Northeast Asia, where China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea belong. When people travel, they use transportation and accommodations. They engage in activities which generate carbon dioxide and solid waste. In 2005, the UNWTO estimated that tourism contributed 5% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Thus, tourism activity exerts great pressure on our environment and those of us in the industry are called upon to exercise more responsibility in the operation of our businesses and for governments to plan long-term, using sustainable strategies and practices.

We have invited this afternoon, highly-qualified speakers who will share with us their experiences in using these sustainable strategies and practices. One speaker will talk about the use of technology as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. You will hear many terms used – ecotourism, green productivity, eco-productivity, community-based tourism, agri-tourism, responsible tourism. Let not the jargon confuse you… all of these point to only one conclusion… that anything that we do, whether we are in the tourism industry or not, must be sustainable and that our solutions must be integrated, not done in an ad hoc manner. National and local governments, business enterprises; civil society; host communities; development partners; media – all of these stakeholders must work together to address the environmental challenges that we face today. To set the tone of this Conference, we have invited a speaker to talk about tourism’s impact on climate and, on the reverse, climate change and its impact on the tourism industry. It is essential for us to understand the nature of this symbiotic relationship before we can talk about strategies and best practices.

Your questions and concerns during the open forum would be most welcome and will help us frame and adjust the program for succeeding conferences. We urge you to actively participate in the Q & A and the discussions. The Ramos Peace and Development Foundation intends to publish a report next year on the results of this series, with the hope that the knowledge gleaned from the presentations and discussions will contribute towards the adoption by the different stakeholders, of various strategies which will be financially beneficial for their businesses; conserve the environment; reduce poverty and promote equity; and create a society that is responsive to climate change issues.

I welcome you all to this Conference and wish to thank our sponsors, the Department of Tourism; the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; Asia Productivity Organization; the Development Academy of the Philippines; Asia Pacific Projects, Inc. and the Herma Group of Companies, for making this possible. Thank you, too, to all our speakers, for coming here today to share their experiences and expertise with us – all in the spirit of wanting to find common solutions to the development challenges that humankind faces in the 21st century.