Andean Community to Promote Interregional Youth Tourism

The Andean Community (AC) will embark on the advertisement of youth tourism in an effort to capture the hearts of some 33 million youngsters (27 percent of the total population) in the region, AC Chairman Richard Moss said this week.

Mr. Moss pointed out both the AC and the Andean Tourism Authorities Committee are bent on advancing projects and activities linked to the development of youth tourism.

The AC Secretary General Office and the International Student Travel Confederation are taking initial steps aimed at issuing ISTC travel cards for students. The two institutions are also planning to hold a Youth Tourism Congress in 2005.

"Tourism is also a major tool in the struggle against poverty and social exclusion," Mr. Moss told attendants to the Andean Seminar on Youth Tourism recently held in Peru´s Lima.

Michel Levi, an advisor of the Ecuadorian Tourism Ministry, proposed the implementation of a student exchange program within the AC boundaries and include youngsters in the Andean Tourism Guidebook.