HOLY SEE AT WTO CONFERENCE ON ECONOMIC IMPACT OF TOURISM

VATICAN CITY, JUN 15, 1999 (VIS) - Msgr. Piero Monni, Holy See permanent observer to the World Tourism Organization, will participate in the four-day world conference organized by the WTO on "Evaluating the Economic Impact of Tourism," which starts today in Nice, France.

According to a communique from the office of the permanent observer, "this conference represents one of the WTO's most important initiatives, and aims to make a contribution to increasing the awareness of the importance of the tourism industry and of an adequate tourism policy by governments."

"The complaint made up to now by the tourism sector," adds the communique, "is that the real contribution which tourism offers to a country's budget and how it may be a valid instrument for fighting unemployment have not yet been perfectly understood."

Msgr. Monni, scheduled to speak tomorrow, will address the need to analyze not only problems linked with the economic impact of tourism but also those relative to the environmental, cultural and religious impacts.

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