A tourist bus drives past Madrid’s Town Hall, where a banner welcoming refugees is displayed. Photo: Reuters/Susana Vera

World Tourism Day, which is celebrated today, coincides with a moment of truth for European solidarity values, which are struggling due to the current migration phenomenon besieging Europe’s gates, mainly generated by the persistent civil war in Syria.

Of course, the enormous hu­manitarian challenges of this crisis, which is causing so much appre­hension among certain European leaders, are and must remain of top priority. Yet, even in such cir­cumstances, WTD has its proper space too, especially considering growth of social tourism in the modern era.

In 2012, the symbolic barrier of a billion international tourist arrivals was surpassed, and the numbers continue to grow such that the fore­casts estimate a new threshold of two billion will be reached in 2030. Meanwhile, there are even higher figures related to local tourism.

The classic concept of a ‘tourist’ is fading while that of a ‘traveller’ has become stronger. The latter are people who do not limit themselves to visiting a place but in some way become an integral part of it. Here, the ‘citizen of the world’ is born: no longer to see but to belong, not to just look around but to experience, no longer to explore but to take part in, and not without respect for what and whom he or she encounters.

The way of moving is changing. Consequently, the experience of travelling is changing too. Those who go to countries different from their own do so with the more or less conscious desire to reawaken the most hidden part of themselves through encounter, sharing and confrontation.

A message issued by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples for WTD 2015, focusing on the theme ‘One billion tourists, one billion opportunities’, argues that the increase being experienced in the field of tourism-travelling launches a challenge to all the sectors involved in this global phenomenon, involving businesses, governments and local com­munities, and the Church.

The message underlines that the tourism-related business sector should be truly committed to achieving the common good. This entails not losing awareness of people’s faces and avoiding the temptation of reducing tourists only to a statistic or a source of revenue.

Tourism-related businesses should be committed to achieving the common good. This entails not losing awareness of people’s faces

The aim of such businesses should not start and end with profit. The final objective should be offer­ing travellers accessible oppor­­­tu­nities to achieving the experience they are looking for, with due res­pect for people and the environment.

On their part, governments are expected to guarantee, with a resolute attitude, respect for the laws, and at the same time strive to create new ones that can protect the dignity of individuals, communities and the territory. It is also re­com­mended that the civil authorities of different countries concur on shar­ed tourist strategies to create glo­balised socio-economic net­works in favour of local com­munities and travellers in order to take advantage of the abundant opportunities offered by such interaction.

Local communities are called to welcome those coming from other countries moved by a thirst for knowledge, which is in itself a unique occasion for reciprocal enrichment and common growth. Their inspiration should be the fact that giving hospitality enables the environmental, social and cultural potentialities to bear fruit, to create new jobs, to develop one’s identity, and to bring out the value of the territory.

The message points out that it is essential for the Church to go forth and be close to the citizen of the world who travels in order to offer an appropriate and individual answer to a person’s inner search while, at the same time, educating on how to live free time.

Pope Francis says Christian spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity. Warning against demeaning contemplative rest as something unproductive and unnecessary, he says that such an approach would be to do away with the very thing that is most important about work: its meaning. “We are called to include in our work a dimension of receptivity and gratuity, which is quite different from mere inactivity,” says Francis (Laudato si’, no. 237).

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