Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-08-Speech-4-040"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050908.5.4-040"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, my thanks and congratulations go to the rapporteur. It is very important that we acknowledge that tourism is a major industry in many developing countries. Many developing countries such as poorer countries, and LDCs such as Mozambique and others, see it as a sector which needs to be developed further. Therefore, it is appropriate to ask the Commission to look at ways that we can do that, certainly with ACP countries, under the provisions already existing in the Cotonu agreement.
For some developing countries, tourism accounts for something like 50% of GDP, so we should be aware of that. We can be positive; it leads to the development of infrastructure, it can help to reduce the isolation of rural communities and it offers new opportunities for vegetable growers and others in developing countries. However, there are downsides, which all of us here would acknowledge. We need to have a proper regulatory framework that ensures that there are no corrupt practices and that there is no property speculation or environmental damage, and it should not be beyond the wit of us as donors to ensure that host countries do not suffer in any way from the development of tourism.
What I see and hear from the Commission is that there does not seem to be very much understanding of how we can actually integrate tourism into the broader development strategies we have; that ought to be positive and something that can be thought about. There need to be well publicised penalties, as my colleague has said, for people who are involved in sex tourism because so many people, especially children, are drawn into prostitution and drugs.
The European Union has a role to play here, and we have a role in pressing the industry – nobody here has spoken about the responsibility of the tourist industries in our own countries to ensure that their practices do not damage the countries where they are. We need to be sure that we are pressing the need for workers' rights – on low wages, on long hours and on the lack of secure contracts. This is the kind of thing that could be monitored through our ACP relationship with 78 countries."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples