Oman Visitors Portal launches electronic campaign in the occasion of World Tourism Day on 27 September from each year. The theme for this year is Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development. World Tourism Day is celebrated annually on 27 September. Its purpose is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value. The event seeks to address global challenges outlined in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to highlight the contribution the tourism sector can make in reaching these goals. The theme of this year's World Tourism Day, "Tourism & Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development.", aims to highlight tourism's role in a brighter energy future; a future in which the world's entire population has access to modern, efficient and affordable energy services. Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General, in special message said, "As part of UNWTO's ongoing efforts to forge tourism's contribution to sustainable development, World Tourism Day 2012 will be celebrated around the theme Tourism & Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development." Rifai said, "Tourism is leading the way in some of the world's most innovative sustainable energy initiatives. Energy efficient upgrades to aircraft, the shift to renewable fuel for aviation and cruise liners, energy technology solutions in hotels, as well as countless other initiatives are placing tourism at the forefront of the clean energy transformation." He said, "These initiatives not only help to protect the environment, they also play a part in ending 'energy poverty', an ill being addressed by the 2012 United Nations International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, which aims to ensure universal energy access, significantly improve rates of energy efficiency and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030." "Sustainable energy initiatives in tourism are creating economic opportunities and jobs for millions, whether in tourism, energy or other sectors. As UNWTO findings show, the return on investment in sustainable energy can be enormous, enabling tourism businesses to grow and create jobs. At the same time, tourism infrastructure in developing countries is helping to bring modern energy services to some of the world's most vulnerable communities," stated Rifai. "With international tourist arrivals reaching one billion in 2012, more must be done to guarantee a brighter energy future. Destinations and companies must accelerate their transition to low-emission technologies and embrace existing opportunities to leapfrog conventional options in favor of more sustainable energy solutions," added Rifai. "As we celebrate World Tourism Day 2012, I urge all tourism stakeholders - governments, businesses and tourists themselves - to play their part in reaching the UN goal of achieving sustainable energy for all by 2030 and position tourism at the center of the clean energy economies of the future," he concluded. Oman Visitors Portal has launches online campaign through social media platforms to increase the awareness of tourism and highlight the benefit of tourism as industry. Bader Mohd Al Azri, team leader of Oman Visitors projects added our portal promote for Oman and different tourism attractions in the country and within short period the portal get very famous in different countries which generate tourists. A part from our responsibility as a leading online portal promote for Oman, for the second year we promote Word Tourism Day but this year we use social media (Facebook, Twitters & YouTube) to raise public awareness about this event. The campaign available in four languages to reach more people to get aware about this day. Visit : www.facebook.com/cometooman

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