Poland hosted the 94th session of the OECD Tourism Committee

94th session of the OECD Tourism Committee was held on 1 – 2 October 2014 at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland. The meeting was attended by ninety delegates representing 39 member states and invited non-member countries. It was the first time, Poland has hosted the OECD Tourism Committee session. The meeting was officially opened by Mr. Andrzej Biernat, the Minister of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland.

- It is important that we know how to make use of the potential of tourism. Here is a huge role of the OECD but also of other international organizations in providing the best possible know-how, good practice and statistic data but also in recommending concrete actions – said the Minister in his welcome speech.

Poland joined the OECD in 1996. The OECD is a leading international organisation of 34 members committed to democracy and the market economy, providing tools to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and co-ordinate domestic and international policies. The mission of the Organisation is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Within the OECD structure, dozens of substantial committees, including Tourism Committee, were established to cover particular work areas of the OECD.

The Tourism Committee, created in 1948, acts as the OECD forum for exchange, and for monitoring policies and structural changes affecting the development of domestic and international tourism. It actively promotes the sustainable economic growth of tourism (for more information please visit OECD websie).

Tourism Committee meets twice a year in regular session held in OECD headquarters in Paris with participation of senior representatives of national tourism administrations of member states and invited non-member countries. On an exceptional basis a Committee session may be hosted by one of the OECD member states. The previous away session of the Committee was hosted by Korea in Muju in 2012.

It was the first time, Poland has hosted the OECD Tourism Committee session. The meeting’s agenda included on-going activities of the Committee as well as projects to be delivered in the framework of the Committee’s Programme of Work 2015 – 2016.

A seminar The impact of big sport events on tourism was held on 2 October as a back-to-back event to the Committee session. The seminar was attended by more than 150 representatives of local authorities, tourism industry and scientific community. During the seminar several case studies including 2012 London Olympic Games, UEFA EURO 2012™ in Poland, Australian Open and Austrialan Tour of British & Irish Lions were presented. Additionally, a panel discussion with representatives of Hungary, Japan, Poland, Portugal and the United States was held under the topic: Costs and benefits of big sport events for tourism.

Download the presentations from the seminar: