PfL, ECOT, Philippine groups probe impacts of global tourism

The Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT), a church-related advocacy group on tourism, has partnered with Peace for Life and Philippine-based organisations to jointly organise a three-day national consultation on “Tourism in the Philippines: A View from the Underside”.

The gathering, which took place in Quezon City on 21 to 23 October, was organised locally in cooperation with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, IBON Foundation, and CONTAK Philippines.

The consultation heard testimonies of women, children, indigenous peoples, environment activists, health practitioners, artists, cultural activists and church workers on the effects of tourism in their lives and communities. Alternative ways of “tourism” as practiced by people’s organisations and institutions in the Philippines was also discussed.

The consultation examined global tourism within the framework of social and ecological justice, and identified focal areas for advocacy and activism, including the promotion of “solidarity tourism”, which are also expected to lay the groundwork for further cooperation between ECOT and the participating organisations.

The consultation proved timely as it coincided with the 6th International Tourism Forum for Parliamentarians and Local Authorities sponsored by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, which was held in Cebu on 22-25 October. The Cebu event highlighted the immediate context within which the group critiqued the practices and direction of the Philippine government’s tourism policy as embodied in the proposed Tourism Act of 2008. The Unity Statement issued by the participants served as the people’s response to this highly publicised inter-governmental event.

Participants of the PfL-ECOT consultation came from churches in the Philippines and NGOs representing labor, environment, culture and arts, rural development, health, indigenous peoples, women, and children’s rights issues. The consultation was held at the Bishop La Verne Mercado Ecumenical Center at the NCCP Compound in Quezon City.

This collaboration offered ECOT and Peace for Life, two groups of different advocacies, an opportunity to widen analyses of issues and provided added perspective for the enrichment of each other’s concerns. This is particularly relevant given the growing popular consciousness on critical issues like climate change; depletion of fossil fuels and mineral resources and the race for control of what remains of these; food and water shortages; erosion of cultural-social bonds and ethnic identities; religious extremism; and the obscene distribution of wealth, income, and power, all of which have more than mere tangential relevance to PfL’s and ECOT’s objectives.

For more information on the sponsors and Philippine organisers, see the Media Advisory sent to the local press.

Unity Statement: Tourism in the Philippines: A View from the Underside
Tourism in the Philippines: A View from the Underside - A report on the ECOT-PfL Consultation
News: Tourism is part of development aggression, says consultation (Asia Pacific Ecumenical News, 17 Nov 2008)
State and Trends of Global Tourism: Setting the Context
A Moral Economy of Tourism

External links:

The problem with tourism (The Manila Times, 24 Oct 2008)
Cebu to host global forum on tourism development
(Cebu Daily News, 09/10/2008)
UN tourism meet in Cebu to tackle global issues
(GMANEWS.TV, 09/11/2008)