Since its founding in 1986, the UN International Year of Peace, IIPT has worked to make travel and tourism the world’s first global peace industry. Along the way, it has helped redefine the purpose of tourism: from an economic activity alone to a force for understanding, sustainability, poverty reduction and reconciliation.
The journey began with the First Global Conference, “Tourism – A Vital Force for Peace,” in Vancouver in 1988, which brought together 800 delegates from 68 countries. The conference introduced sustainable tourism four years before the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and launched the Peace through Tourism movement. Its ideas spread quickly: after attending, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) went on to support ecotourism and carry out its first major study of it in Central America. Today, the “Higher Purpose of Tourism” that IIPT set out in Vancouver is recognized at the highest levels of government and industry.
Since then, IIPT has organized seventeen international conferences and summits, drawing more than 6,000 participants from some 140 countries and showcasing over 1,200 case studies of best practice. Each has left a lasting legacy, from the Amman Declaration, adopted as an official United Nations document, to International Peace Parks, heritage trails, youth programs and awards. Its gatherings have welcomed heads of state, royalty, UN leaders, Nobel laureates, more than 60 Ministers of Tourism and over 40 industry CEOs.
IIPT introduced the concept of sustainable tourism at its Vancouver conference, four years before the 1992 Rio Earth Summit laid the foundations for sustainable development.
After the Rio Earth Summit, IIPT developed the world’s first Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Sustainable Tourism, mandated by Canada’s travel and tourism industry and an early model for other nations. It also developed guidelines for PATA’s Green Leaf Program.
In 1993, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) commissioned IIPT to conduct the first international study of best practice in tourism, environment and sustainable development.
IIPT’s Second Global Conference, Montreal 1994, “Building a Sustainable World through Tourism”, was the first to showcase case studies of sustainable tourism success stories and models of best practice.
Uganda became the first nation in the world to introduce tourism legislation in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals, one of the legacies of IIPT’s conferences.
At a time of mass tourism, IIPT set out a new role for tourism in promoting international understanding, collaboration among nations, protecting the environment and biodiversity, valuing heritage, sustainable development, poverty reduction and healing the wounds of conflict.
Launched at the Resilience through Tourism Summit in Amman, Jordan, in June 2018, the awards celebrate tourism’s contribution to peace and prosperity. From 28 nominations, the first winners were:
An annual awards ceremony at ITB Berlin, organized by IIPT India in partnership with ITB, honoring outstanding women in tourism who lead by example and empower other women in the industry.
An initiative of IIPT India, with the participation of UNWTO, recognizing the role of diplomats in nurturing peace and harmony around the world. The inaugural event, presented by VFS Global and TravelBiz Monitor, brought together ambassadors and diplomats representing 95 nations.
IIPT conferences and summits present awards to individuals and organizations for outstanding contributions to international understanding, cooperation, sustainable development and peace. IIPT has also honored King Hussein of Jordan, Dag Hammarskjöld, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. as “Men of Peace.”
Read the full list of IIPT’s achievements, conferences and legacies since 1986.
To mark Canada’s 125th birthday, 350 cities and towns from St. John’s to Victoria dedicated a park to peace at noon on October 8, 1992, as the National Peacekeeping Monument was unveiled in Ottawa. Each park has a Peace Grove of 12 trees for Canada’s 10 provinces and 2 territories. Of more than 25,000 anniversary projects, it was said to be the most significant.
Dedicated at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 2000, at the site of Christ’s baptism, as a legacy of the IIPT First Global Summit in Amman.
A legacy of IIPT’s Fifth African Conference in Lusaka (2011), rededicated on September 24, 2013 as the opening-day event of the UNWTO 20th General Assembly, co-hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe, with UNWTO Secretary-General Dr. Taleb Rifai and Zambia’s first President, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda. Six olive trees from Bethany Beyond the Jordan were planted at the ceremony, linking two World Heritage Sites.
The city’s 2-mile Riverside Promenade was dedicated as an IIPT Peace Park, the model for the IIPT Global Peace Parks Project, with a special event each month leading up to November 11, 2018.
Leaders associated with IIPT conferences and summits include:
Pope John Paul II; U.S. President Ronald Reagan; President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir of Iceland, the world’s first elected woman Head of State; President Nelson Mandela of South Africa; Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, first President of Zambia; President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Chairperson of the African Union; President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa of Zambia; President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda; and Premier Dr. Ewart F. Brown of Bermuda
HM King Abdullah II, HM Queen Noor and HM Queen Rania of Jordan; HSH Prince Albert of Monaco
Secretary-General Kofi Annan; Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; UNWTO Secretaries-General Dr. Willibald Pahr, Francesco Frangialli and Dr. Taleb Rifai
Shimon Peres, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Wangari Maathai and David Trimble
J.W. Marriott Jr., Marriott International; Harvey Golub, American Express and World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC); Claude Taylor, Air Canada; Geoffrey Lipman and Jean-Claude Baumgarten, WTTC; more than 40 other industry CEOs and more than 60 Ministers of Tourism