Hyderabad, Apr 12 (KNN)  Asia and the Pacific region with its bounty of tourism destinations has huge potential for growth and that needs to be tapped, according to Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi.

Inaugurating the United Nations World Trade Organisation conference (UNWTO) he said, “Asia and Pacific regions with their vast range of destinations and products can achieve higher growth in tourism by developing synergy to promote tourism products and destinations jointly.”

“Intra-regional and inter-regional cooperation holds the key to the growth of this sector. Further, the tourism industry with its established contributions towards economic growth, employment generation and social integration, will have to be made sustainable for drawing the benefits over a longer period of time,” he added.

He called for the involvement of local bodies - local self-governments, communities and youth who can be instruments and the required force to take forward the agenda of sustainability.

Also addressing the conference, UNWTO, Secretary General Taleb Rifai said, “The tourism sector saw a growth of 4 per cent while the Asian region saw a growth of 7 per cent and accounted for 25 per cent of world traffic.”

He predicted a growth of 3.5 to 4 per cent for the tourism sector worldwide and a growth of 5-6 per cent for the Asian region.

Also present on the occasion were Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Tourism Secretary Parvez Dewan. (KNN)