IIPT November 2018 Newsletter by Charlene Canning

The International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT) presented “Champions of Challenge “awards following on from the success of the IIPT Awards presentation at the 2018 Resilience

Through Tourism Summit (RTTS) in Jordan earlier this year. The event saw 300 leading figures from the global travel industry gather in London on November 8, featured speakers from Mastercard, TripAdvisor, travel insurance provider Ingle International and others. ITCMS founder and Jacobs Media Group’s Group Business Development Director Daniela Wagner, said: “We’re delighted to strengthen and grow our partnership with the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism and build upon the regional IIPT awards for Excellence at the Resilience Through Tourism Summit in Amman earlier this year.” The International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT) partnered with Jacobs Media Group at ITCMS to present the IIPT “Champions in Challenge” Award to three global leaders during the ITCMS conference in London on November 8.

“The IIPT Awards honour leaders who have stood forward in exceptional times of challenge and have made a real difference through their words and actions,” said Ajay Prakash, President of IIPT India.

“Crises are an unavoidable fact of life; through the Champions in Challenge awards we seek to recognise exceptional leaders who embody the power of tourism to bring peace and stability.”

The IIPT Champions in Challenge Awards were presented to three global leaders during ITCMS on Thursday 8 November by Dr. Taleb Rifai, former Secretary General UNWTO & Chairman IIPT Advisory Board and Ajay Prakash, President IIPT India.

Award winners were: Deepak Raj Joshi, Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) for his continuous hard work and success in bouncing back following the 2015 earthquake and bringing tourism to the forefront in Nepal; Jamaica Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, for his launching The Global Centre for Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management, a first-of-its-kind resource based in the Caribbean at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. The Centre’s mission is to carry out policy-relevant research and analysis on destination preparedness, management and recovery from disruptions or crises that impact tourism and threaten economies and livelihoods globally; and Roger Dow President and CEO, U.S. Travel Association since January 1, 2005. Mr. Dow has over 40 years of executive hospitality leadership experience and led the creation of the nation’s first-ever communications and promotion program, known as Brand USA, to increase travel to the United States.

Jamaica Tourism Minister meets with Louis D’Amore Founder of International Institute for Peace through Tourism

Dr. D’Amore was in Jamaica for the International Community Tourism Conference: Building Communities as Businesses, presented by the International Institute for Peace through Tourism Caribbean in association with Countrystyle Villages as Businesses. The Conference was held at the University of West Indies, Mona Visitors Lodge, Kingston, Jamaica. Sharing in the moment are (from left) Dr. Lloyd Waller, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Tourism; Jennifer Griffith, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism; and Founder and President of the IIPT, Louis J. D’Amore. Minister Bartlett received the award last week at the International Travel Crisis Management Summit (ITCMS) in London, England

 

Harrisburg observes 100th anniversary of Armistice Day at WWI doughboy statue

At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 2018 at the “Buddy” World War I statue in Harrisburg’s River Front Park there were only five people to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that ended the Great War.

But 15 minutes later there was a band; a motorcycle club; city, county and state politicians; a gold star mother and veterans joined together to remember Armistice Day which is now called Veterans Day.

The statue at the center of it all “Lest We Forget” was dedicated 96 years ago in memory of local Harrisburg boys who went off to fight in the war to end all wars and came back men, if they came back at all.

 

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania IIPT Peace Park Promenade

IIPT President Guest Speaker at Chestnut Hill and Ambler Rotary Clubs Philadelphia

IIPT Founder and President, Lou D’Amore was the guest speaker this past week at two Rotary Clubs nearby Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Chestnut Hill and Ambler Rotary Clubs where he received a warm welcome from each of the Clubs. The main purpose of his talk was to provide information regarding the IIPT Global Peace Parks Project with a goal of 2,000 IIPT Peace Parks circling the earth by 11 November 2020 in support of the World War I Centenary and its theme “no more war.”
D’Amore began his talk at each of the Clubs by commending Rotary for its more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide who volunteer locally, regionally, and internationally to make the world a better place and under the motto ‘Service Above Self.”
He provided a brief background on the importance of travel and tourism indicating its impressive growth from 25 million international arrivals in 1950 to its current level of 1.4 billion and its accounting for 10.2% of global GDP; 1 in every 10 jobs; and the largest source of foreign exchange for most developing countries. And in this context – the vision with which IIPT was born more than 30 years ago.

Travel and Tourism becoming the World’s first Global Peace Industry and the belief that Every Traveler is potentially an Ambassador of Peace

D’Amore explained that the Global Peace Parks Project builds on the success of IIPT’s 1992 “Peace Parks across Canada” Project commemorating Canada’s 125th birthday as a nation which resulted in 350 Peace Parks being dedicated by cities and towns from St. John’s, Newfoundland on the shores of the Atlantic, across five time zones to Victoria, British Colombia on the shores of the Pacific.

The Peace Parks were all dedicated on October 8, 1992 as a National Peace Keeping Monument was being unveiled in Ottawa and 5,000 Peacekeepers passing in review. Each park was dedicated with a ‘bosco sacro’ – a peace grove of 12 trees, symbolic of Canada’s 10 Provinces and 2 Territories, as a link to one another, and a symbol of hope for the future. Of the more than 25,000 Canada 125 Projects, Peace Parks across Canada was said to be the most significant.

IIPT International Peace Parks have since been dedicated as a legacy of each IIPT International Conference and Global Summit. Notable IIPT International Peace Parks include Bethany Beyond the Jordan, site of Christ’s baptism as a legacy of the Amman Summit, 2000; Victoria Falls, as a legacy of the IIPT 5th African Conference, 2011, subsequently re-dedicated as the featured event on Opening Day of the UNWTO 20th General Assembly 2013; Medellin, Colombia, dedicated on Opening Day of the UNWTO 21st General Assembly;

Sun River National Park in Pu’er, China

Danzhai Wanda Village

 

Australian Indigenous Tourism Conference 2018 From Little Things, Big Things Grow

Growing Australia’s Indigenous Tourism Sector. Gail Parsonage, President IIPT Australia, represented the International Institute for Peace through Tourism at the AITC recently held in Lorne, (Victoria) at one of the most significant tourist destinations along the southern continent of Australia.
The AITC 2018 was hosted on Eastern Maar country and home of the Gadubanud people has been a great success with 220 delegates attending the Conference in the setting provided by one of Australia’s most iconic visitor settings, the Great Ocean Road. Delegates have attended from throughout Australia, with international guests from New Zealand and Europe.
The delivery of the Australian Indigenous Tourism Conference (AITC) by the Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council (WAITOC) has seeded many Indigenous entrepreneurs across Australia, over its 18-year history.
Johnny Edmonds, Director WINTA said “Australia deserves to be recognised as one of the group of countries demonstrating leadership in the empowerment of Indigenous peoples through tourism. The Australian States of Western Australia and Victoria are taking collaborative initiatives with Indigenous communities which are setting the benchmarks for other States in Australia. These collaborative initiatives also have the potential to serve as important learning opportunities for other countries at the next World Indigenous Tourism Summit 2020 in Perth Western Australia”.
Jamie Lowe, CEO, Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation, said in his opening welcome that “Tourism contributes strongly to economic development, employment, improved wellbeing and social cohesion between Aboriginal people and the broader Australian community and the international communities”.

The World Peace Day Commemoration in Bali

The world peace day is commemorated every 21stSeptember. This year, the Bali entrepreneurs commemorated the World peace day by concurrently praying and holding a symposium inTaman Gong Perdamaian Dunia (The World Peace Gong Park) in Denpasar. Attended the event, The Head of Bali Chamber of Commerce and Industry, A.A. Ngurah Alit Wiraputra, SH, MH, The owner of the Taman Gong Perdamaian Dunia, Ir. Ketut Suardhana Linggih, the Heads of the Bali Entrepreneur Association, Dr.dr. I Gusti Nyoman Darmaputra, SpKK., and participants including the high school and university students in Bali. The resource persons at the symposium were Ida Rsi Acarya Waisnawa Agni Budha Wisesanatha, Prof. Dr. I Wayan Ramantha, SE, M.M, CPA, Ak., and Dr. A.A. Tini Rusmini Gorda, S.H, M.M, M.H.
Entrepreneurs are those who are not only act as the economy leaders but also human beings who require blissfulness and peacefulness. This statement was stated by the Professor of the Faculty of Economics and Business of Udayana University, Prof. I Wayan Ramantha. Ramantha viewed the three variants of peacefulness and economy, namely: (a) synergistic variants, the value of peacefulness come together with the value of economy; (b) variant of antithesis and dialectics, the value of peacefulness connected to the value of economy significantly; (c) variant of partial-equivalence structure, the value of peacefulness is connected to the value of economy mutually, completely and intensively. He stated that peacefulness requires economic sufficiency since the economic sufficiency will be achieved when there is peacefulness.
Every religion must be laden by culture and encompasses various economy ideas. The prosperity and blissfulness of the society will be achieved when the government as well as the entrepreneurs and society collaborates those elements properly. In connection with that, the concept of blissfulness mainly about prosperity, the sense of contentment internally and externally, physically and spiritually, seen and unseen.
Dr. A.A. Tini Rusmini Gorda, the head of BKOW (Women Organization Cooperation Agency) of Bali Province emphasized that blissfulness is in link to two main terms namely patience and sincerity. “Be patient to accept all characters and be sincere when my expectation is not in accordance with the hope of most people. Every cloud has a silver lining, we just need to go through this phase patiently and sincerely to create harmony”, she concluded.
Whereas, Ida Rsi Wisesanatha, the Steering Committee of the Gema Perdamaian(Echo of Peace) conveyed that our genuine self is not our physical appearance, but our existence at the time we become the owner of our own body
as a genuine self. In the soul consciousness, we possess high intelligence and wisdom. When our level of consciousness reaches the soul awareness that is the time when patience, wisdom and sense of understanding taking place. The matter is that we lost the idea that we are the genuine soul itself. There are six wrapper linings or dimensions surrounding our genuine self namely soul, will, compassion, mind and ego, emotions and the external body. First, we must enlighten those things by understanding the rule in nature of each dimension. After recognizing the rule, try to manage them for this is a long journey of human beings even they are being reincarnated repeatedly.
According to Ida Rsi Wisesanatha, the composition of consciousness which carries the soul needs to be developed as of we can design our farther steps and appreciate our journey. “A good Dharma (kindness) is a Dharma built upon the recognition of the rule in nature. It is not about memorizing or committing dogma, but investigating each learning resources in order to create aesthetics”. Further explained, orderliness and discipline are the two basic elements to reach enlightenment. Starting with orderliness and discipline, each individual then begins to recognize the dimensions of the body, emotion, ego as well as the compassion for this is the entrance way.
In connection to peacefulness we must always be in the level of consciousness. As said by Steve Jobs “Stay foolish stay hungry”, do not find ourselves to be the most spiritual, the kindest and the smartest, thus arrogance will appear yet accusing others as if they are not as smart as us, insisting them to be smart in strange ways. Blissfulness can only be achieved when we respect others as we respect ourselves”, he said.

 

A year on…

The programme commenced with a meeting with HRH Princess Dana of Jordan, who was Patron of the IIPT Tour, and also President of the Board, Petra National Trust (PNT). She explained its work which not only include conservation and preservation projects but also Education, Outreach and Awareness (EOA) programs for youth in the six villages that surround the Petra Archaeological Park.

Gail Parsonage, IIPT President Australia and HRH Princess Dana
The group was accompanied in Petra by Youth Members (Yousuf Shabaan 18 years and Petra Nawafleh, 17 years) and Trainer of Education and Awareness, Department of PNT, Huda Amareen, who explained the youth programmes in preservation, sustainability, protection, awareness and involvement of Petra.

 

Yousuf Shabaan, Petra Nawafleh talking to some of the delegates

Delegates with Petra Nawafleh, Huda Amereen, Yousuf Shabaan

 

Australian Delegates – left to right
Siggi Scholz, Debbie Stewart, Patricia Ewing, NET Driver Zachariah, Nadia Predan, Gail Parsonage, Charlene Canning, UK Journalist Mark Jackson.

AZRAQ UNHCR REFUGEE CAMP
The other highlight of the trip to Jordan was the special and unique opportunity for delegates to visit the UNHCR Syrian Refugee Camp in Azraq located 104 kilometres east of Amman and to a school and personal home visits to Syrian refugee families.
The visit allowed the IIPT delegates to show solidarity and understanding to the displaced families and reassure them that they are not forgotten people and to reach out with a moment of genuine friendship and peace to the Syrian refugees. Food parcels, clothing and school items were also distributed to the school and families.

Fadel, from Syrian Refugee Affairs Directorate (SARD) hosted our tour of the UNHCR Azraq Camp. 57,000 residents of which 67% are children live in an area which is divided into 3 villagers. Solar Power has now been erected in 2 of the 3 villagers within the camp and the 3rd village is coming online shortly.

 

 

IIPT Member Charlene Canning with children

IIPT Member Debbie Stewart and young lady

SCHOOL VISIT
Children from refugee families as well as children from remote and rural areas of Jordan are looked after in the Azraq School. Collaborating with IIPT was the Angels of Hope, an organisation which contributed colourful and prized Tee shirts for all the children.

Teachers receiving a copy of the IIPT Credo of the Peaceful Traveller, along with some fun and useful teaching aids.

FAMILY VISIT
Visiting Refugee families was a humbling experience for all delegates and yet all families displayed resilience and the hope of eventually returning to their own country and to live in peace and safety. Donations of food parcels and other items from delegates were also distributed.

Special overnight camp site at Wadi Rum

About IIPT

The International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) is a not for profit organization dedicated to fostering travel and tourism initiatives that contribute to international understanding, cooperation among nations, an improved quality of environment, cultural enhancement and the preservation of heritage, poverty reduction, reconciliation and healing wounds of conflicts; and through these initiatives, helping to bring about a peaceful and sustainable world. It is founded on a vision of the world’s largest industry, travel and tourism – becoming the world’s first global peace industry; and the belief that every traveler is potentially an “Ambassador for Peace.”
For more information:

IIPT Website: www.iipt.org

Tel: (315) 507-4059

Email: ljd@iipt.org