Abu Dhabi Hosts World Green Tourism Conference

The Secretary of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD)

, Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak told travel trade professionals this week that the tourism industry must find ways to reduce carbon footprints to combat climate change and protect the United Arab Emirates cultural heritage.

The secretary spoke at the opening of the World Green Tourism conference in Abu Dhabi earlier this week, and highlighted the importance of sustainable tourism while finding ways to provide environmentally-friendly Abu Dhabi holidays.

Al Mubarak explained: Abu Dhabi has a fantastic natural heritage with a real mix of geology, habitats and species, on land and in the sea. Several million birds each year pass through Abu Dhabi on their migration from the heart of Asia southwards to Africa, or eastwards to India or beyond.

In addition to the biodiversity value, the natural environment of the UAE is closely associated with the cultural heritage of the Emirati people.

Given these natural assets and their importance to the cultural identity of the UAE, there is a world of opportunity for a new kind of tourism in Abu Dhabi that not only raises awareness on the unique biodiversity of the Emirate, but can also play a role in celebrating and safeguarding the cultural heritage of its people."

The World Green Tourism conference is hosted by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, and is dedicated to promoting the sustainable tourism sector.

The opening day of the conference programme was aimed at finding ways in which the main players in the travel and tourism industry, such as Abu Dhabi hotels and airlines, could offer greener operations and make their businesses more sustainable.

The conference was moderated by Geoffrey Lipman, an expert in green tourism, and the first debate questioned if large scale tourism could ever become sustainable.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and over the last year, there has been a significant increase in the number of business travellers and tourists enjoying holidays to Abu Dhabi.

It is vitally important that as Abu Dhabi seeks to diversify its economy and to encourage the tourism sector to grow and contribute more to the economy, that we do so in an environmentally responsible manner, added Al Mubarak.

Creating jobs and building capacity amongst locals to manage our natural assets so that we can see not just a growth in tourism but in sustainable eco-tourism is equally important.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority was recognised as the Worlds Leading Tourist Board by the World Travel Awards earlier this year for its success in promoting holidays in Abu Dhabi in various countries around the world.

by: Ali Hassan

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