World Tourism Day was established in order to highlight the importance of traveling around the world. World Tourism Day is commemorated every year on September 27 and this day was established by the United Nations World Tourism Organization. “Tourism & Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development” is the theme for the year 2012. The theme for 2012, intends to highlight the important role played by tourism, as tourism is said to create a brighter future in which every individual across the globe will get access to all the energy services. Tourism industry is also providing energy efficient products in order to lower the carbon emissions.
This year, the United Nations World Tourism Organization, looks forward to raise awareness about international tourism. It will demonstrate the effect of tourism on the cultural and the economic values. UNWTO has set a theme to recognize the importance of this industry, as the tourism industry may face a lot of difficulties if plans for sustainability are not made.
United States welcomes visitors and travelers, from every part of the world. In the year 2011, around 62 million travelers from various foreign countries visited the United States. Tourism strengthens the economy of the United States and the international travelers always wish to travel to the United States. Earlier this year, President Barack Obama announced that the United States will efficiently handle tourist visa requests. According to that announcement special attention has been given to China and Brazil, as more number of people visit the United States, every year from those countries.
Around 88% of the tourism visa applications are currently reviewed and the applicants are called for interviews within three weeks. People of Brazil earlier had to wait for 140 days for interviews, but now the wait times have been cut down to two days. And the visa applicants in China need not wait for more than five days for visa interviews. The new initiatives of the President to promote tourism has made it easier for the international travelers to visit the country. Around 7.5 million Americans work for the tourism industry and this industry has made a lot of progress over the past few years. The demand for tourist visas this year, is likely to increase by 20 percent.
