Tourism as a Driver of Peace

Travel & Tourism has often been recognised for its ability to drive peace, security and understanding. World leaders, from John F Kennedy to Bill Clinton to Tony Blair, have highlighted the importance of the sector.  Now, for the first time, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has partnered with the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) to explore the links between tourism and peace.  
The research shows that countries with a more open and sustainable tourism sector tend to be more peaceful:

• A sustainable and open tourism sector brings about a higher level of positive peace: namely the attitudes, institutions, and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies.
• Countries with a more sustainable and open tourism sector are more likely to enjoy higher levels of positive peace in the future. 
• The more sustainable a country’s tourism sector, the lower the country’s level of violence and conflict is likely to be.
• In non-conflict-affected countries, tourism is resilient to deteriorations in violence and conflict, even when terrorism is targeted at tourists.