The Second Global Forum on Sustainable Tourism is taking place from March 14 to 16, during the World Social Forum, in Salvador, Brazil. The event will bring together representatives from community-based projects and civil society to create an environment for discussion and collaboration.
The theme of the Forum is Sustainable Tourism: the view the Civil Society today, which will fall under the thematic line Economic Democratisation and be presented as a part of the Solidarity Economy Work Group of the WSF 2018.
This year the forum is coordinated by the Brazilian NGO Projeto Bagagem, together with local communities, NGOs, researchers and members and supporters of TURISOL – the Brazilian Solidarity and Community Tourism Network. Participants will examine the experiences of community-based tourism (CBT) in Brazil, Latin America and, potentially the world, in the context of the Solidarity Economy, and Social and Solidarity Finance (SSF).
This year, even more than when the Global Forum on Sustainable Tourism was first held, local communities working with Sustainable and Responsible Tourism are the real protagonists of the event and they will be sharing their inspiring stories, their challenges and also looking for new opportunities to collaborate. This will be an exceptional occasion to explore and develop the discussion about Sustainable Tourism, the Solidarity Economy and Community-Based Tourism within civil society, as well as to connect with a network of organisations linked to the sustainable, solidarity and community tourism movement not only in Brazil but all around the world.
Initiatives such as community development banks, solidarity microfinance, complementary currencies, community-based savings schemes and other financial experiments and innovative business solutions will be presented and discussed as contemporary alternatives within the tourism sector. In addition the following topics – among others – will be discussed during the Forum: Public Policies for a more Sustainable Tourism; Paths to the development of Community-based Tourism experiences; Strengthening tourism in the spaces of the Solidarity Economy.
It’s nine years since the first Global Forum on Sustainable Tourism, which was held in Belém, Brazil, in 2009. That event resulted in the Belem Declaration of 2009 (available in Portuguese at http://www.albasud.org/downloads/6.pdf). On the 16th March, the second Global Forum on Sustainable Tourism will present a Salvador Declaration, which will represent the continuation of the work started in Belem and developed with further declarations,, such as the Berlin Declaration of 2017. All these Declarations share the same core values and propose similar directions for the future of Tourism.
Since being launched in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2001, the World Social Forum has been the place where organised groups, civil society organizations, NGOs, social movements and local communities have come together to think and rethink the economic model of our society and the world we live in; to democratically debate new ideas, formulate proposals, share and exchange inspiring experiences and create new patterns of action and innovative solutions. Among the themes to be discussed at the 2018 World Social Forum are Human Rights; Development, Social and Environmental Justice; Communication, Technology and Free Media; and Indigenous People.
For more information about the World Forum on Sustainable Tourism event programme, please check the following address: https://www.projetobagagem.org/ii-forum-global
Also available on the WSF 2018 official page
https://wsf2018.org/en/atividades/forum-global-sobre-turismo-sustentavel/
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Anyone involved with tourism at the community level can attend or participate virtually. If you are a community-based tourism project and you won’t be able to participate in person, but you still would like to send your contributions and share your experiences, please contact me directly at the email below and we can discuss the best way to include you in the event.
HOW TO REGISTER
The II Global Forum on Sustainable Tourism is free of charge, but due to limited space registration is mandatory. To complete your registration, please use the following link:
https://goo.gl/forms/0xmxyURRc7kUO2j02
IMPORTANT! Since the Global Forum on Sustainable Tourism is an event of the World Social Forum 2018 you need to register to the World Social Forum first, and you can do so at the following link:
https://wsf2018.org/en/conta-da-assinatura/niveis-de-assinatura/
HOW TO SUPPORT
The event is a self-organised and self-financed activity, and for this reason independent financial support and donations are very welcome.
To support the event with a donation, please contact Projeto Bagagem at [email protected]
Also, if you could help us to raise the awareness about the event and reach a bigger public by disseminating the event through your networks, or if you need any further information, please contact me directly at [email protected]
