March 9, 2002

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM CAN PROMOTE SOCIAL AS WELL AS ECONOMIC GOALS, ACCORDING TO IDB PRESIDENT Seminar participants at IDB Annual Meeting call for private sector role and opportunities to ensure community involvement

FORTALEZA, Brazil – Calling tourism an “instrument for cultural and social integration” as well as an engine for economic growth, IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias today set forth a series of lessons the Bank has learned from its extensive experience in the field.
Iglesias made his remarks at a luncheon session of the day-long seminar “Sustainable

Tourism Development” as part of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the IDB Board of Governors. Also participating in the seminar were Martus Tavares, Brazil planning minister, Caio Luiz de Carvalho, Brazil sport and tourism minister, Paulo Paiva, IDB vice-president for planning and administration, Eleazar de Carvalho, president of Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development, and Byron Queiroz, president of Brazil’s Banco do Nordeste. The seminar was organized by the Banco do Nordeste, which carried out the first phase of a major IDB-financed tourism program called Prodetur.

One requirement for sustainable tourism cited by Iglesias is that benefits from the sector must be distributed among the population as a whole. If a community is expected to accept tourism’s negative impacts, local people must also share in the benefits. At the same time, special efforts must be made to prevent negative social and environmental effects.
Iglesias also emphasized the need for careful planning in the creation of tourism infrastructure. He conceded that developing a consensus on tourism development is a “long and complex” process and called for institutional mechanisms to make the process more efficient.

The IDB’s experience in the tourism sector has also demonstrated the need for training members of local communities to provide for the direct needs of tourists as well as ensure basic public services. Training results in jobs, which contribute to the stability of the tourism industry and increases the tolerance of the local population to tourism’s inevitable impacts.

Iglesias also called for a significant involvement of the private sector. In order that this happen, entrepreneurs and potential investors must have complete information not only on tourism attractions, but on tourism demand, the existence of trained manpower, and local opposition to tourism investments.

The IDB president closed by emphaizing the Bank’s willingness to consider financing for new tourism initiatives.

In his remarks, IDB Vice-President Paiva emphasized the importance of tourism as a mechanism for social inclusion. Benefits flow to all strata of society, from investors and hotel owners to artisans, guides, hotel workers, and many others, he said.

Planning Minister Tavares spotlighted the benefits that the Annual Meeting’s host city of Fortaleza has received as a result of the Prodetur program. Referring to Fortaleza’s fine beaches, he said that an area “cannot move forward only on the basis of its natural attractions, but needs additional motivation.” By financing Prodetur, he said, the IDB helped to create the infrastructure that made it possible to hold the Bank meeting here.

Sport and Tourism Minster Carvalho also noted the contribution the IDB has made to Fortaleza. He estimated that the IDB meeting has brought the city financial benefits of some $3.5 million, not counting hotels and air transport, in addition to 600 direct jobs and 1,800 indirect jobs during the year.

Banco do Nordeste’s Queiroz noted the effects Prodetur has had in “creating partnerships to promote tourism” among the participating states and forming partnerships between the public private sectors, including the informal sector.

The IDB-financed Prodetur program has improved and expanded eight international airports, built or upgraded over 800 km of highways and access roads, and provided water and sewerage to more than 1.1 million people, in addition to conserving 22 historical heritage sites and initiating actions to conserve more than 70,000 hectares of coastal ecosystems and protected areas.

The program, which was financed with help of a $400 million IDB loan approved in 1994, has attracted an estimated $6.5 billion in private investment to the region and directly or indirectly generated one million jobs. The second stage of the program, which will receive IDB financing for $240 million, will complement the infrastructure development of the first stage with a greater participation of the local stakeholders: the private sector, state and municipal governments, and civil society.