UNWTO Assistant Secretary-General Geoffrey Lipman told the Boao Forum for Asia on Tourism and the Financial Crisis, which convened from 17-19 April 2009, Hainan, China, that business and leisure travel can play a role in the G20-led economic recovery.

UNWTO is also calling for recognition of the potential for the tourism sector to contribute to the long-term transformation to a Green Economy, based on reduced carbon outputs, clean energy and new technologies. Lipman explained the tourism sector accounts for 5% of carbon emissions and that these should be fixed in line with new norms, to be developed at the UNFCCC in Copenhagen in late 2009.
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