Events marking the occasion began yesterday with a media workshop under the topic “The Role of Media in Advocating Universal Accessibility” at Chulalongkorn University.

Today’s highlight is a conference on “Tourism for All – Promoting Universal Accessibility”, and celebration in the afternoon, which will be presided over by Gen Tanasak Patimapragorn, Deputy Prime Minister

This will be followed by a technical visit to Khon Kaen until Thursday, to showcase the unique culture of the Northeast of Thailand.

According to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, almost 1.2 billion people travel abroad each year, so tourism has become a powerful economic sector, a passport to prosperity and peace, and a transformative force improving millions of lives.

“Everyone has the right to access leisure and tourism services on an equal basis,” he said.

“Yet 1 billion people around the world living with disability, along with young children, seniors and persons with other access requirements, still face obstacles in accessing fundamentals of travel such as clear and reliable information, efficient transportation and public services, and a physical environment that is easy to navigate.

“Even with modern technologies, those with visual, hearing, mobility or cognitive impairments are being left behind in many tourism destinations.”

Accessibility is both an important market opportunity and central to responsible and sustainable tourism policies and business development strategies.

Ban encouraged policymakers, destination planners and companies working with people with special needs to work together to remove all barriers, mental and physical, to travel.

“On this World Tourism Day, let us recognise that all people can and should be able to participate in tourism and enjoy unforgettable travel experiences,” he said.

Taleb Rifai, secretary-general of the UNWTO, said tourism had experienced a revolution over the past 50 years.

In 1950 there were 25 million international tourists; today there are around 1.2 billion people travelling the world.

Travelling has become a huge part of many lives.

He added that accessibility for all should be at the centre of tourism policies and business strategies not only as a human right, but also as a great market opportunity.

With the world’s population ageing, all will benefit sooner or later from universal accessibility in tourism.

The latest Oxford Economics research released last month forecast 2.3-per-cent growth in global gross domestic product this year, a downgrade from the 2.8 per cent predicted earlier in the year.

While this will be the slowest rate of growth since 2009, it is only marginally below the rates of growth observed in recent years.

Growth is expected to pick up in 2017 to 2.6 per cent as growth rates slowly improve across advanced economies, at the same time as recent weakness in Brazil as well as Russia abates.

The fastest-growing region between now and 2020 will be South Asia, led by India, whose economy is expected to outperform China’s.

UNTWO data show that tourism in Thailand has been increasing rapidly in recent years.

In 2015, the country became the most visited in Southeast Asia, hosting almost 30 million international tourists.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is targeting more than 30 million visitors this year.