VATICAN - “The responsible management of creation is part of a healthy economy and supports tourism. On the contrary, the inappropriate use of nature and the abuse inflicted on the culture of the local people has damaging affects on the tourism industry as well.” The Pope speaks on the World Day of Tourism

Castel Gandolfo (Agenzia Fides) – “Experience shows that the responsible management of creation is part of a healthy economy and supports tourism. On the contrary, the inappropriate use of nature and the abuse inflicted on the culture of the local people has damaging affects on the tourism industry as well. Learning to respect the environment, in turn helps in learning to respect others and oneself.” This was the advice offered by the Holy Father Benedict XVI during the audience held on September 27 in which he addressed participants in a meeting sponsored by the Youth Tourism Center (CTG) and the International Office of Social Tourism (BITS), in honor of the World Day of Tourism.
Making reference to the theme chosen for the Day this year – “Responding to the Challenge of Climate Change” – the Pope explained that it “implies an issue of great relevance, which has implications for the tourism sector, in light of the state of the planet and the well-being of mankind.” He said that mankind must work to protect creation’s resources, as they are “an immense gift of God to mankind.” He also mentioned the importance of working against an indiscriminate use of the earth’s goods. “Without adequate ethical and moral limits,” the Pope emphasized, “human behavior can even become a threat and a challenge...And therefore it is necessary, especially in the area of tourism, great beneficiary of nature, that all work towards a stable management of our habitat, of what is our common house and which will be for those who come after us. Environmental abuse can be stopped, only by the establishment of an adequate behavioral culture, which implies more sober lifestyles.”
The Pope then explained that the Church shares in “the commitment to establishing a so-called ‘social tourism,’ that promotes the participation of the most vulnerable classes and that can become an instrument in the fight against poverty and insecurity, offering employment, protecting resources, and promoting equality,” and he made a special appeal to the youth, with the hope that they may become “supporters and advocates of modes of comportment that promote an appreciation of nature and its defense, in a correct ecological perspective.” Addressing the future generations, Benedict XVI entrusted them with the establishment of “a healthy and solid tourism, one that forbids consumerism and the wasting of the earth’s resources, so as to leave room for works of solidarity and friendship, awareness and understanding. In this manner, tourism can become a privileged instrument of education in pacific cohabitation of the planet.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 29/9/2008)