It gave me great pleasure to launch the Opening Ceremony of the International Tourism and Sustainability Conference 2011 organised jointly by the School of Sustainable Development and Tourism of the UTM and the University of Bedfordshire, UK. As Minister of Tertiary Education, it is for me a matter of pride that one of our tertiary institutions is organizing such a conference in Mauritius, with the participation of many academics, experts locally and from abroad among others UK, India, Malaysia, Romania, Spain, Kenya, and Tanzania. We will certainly benefit from their presence and contribution on a subject that is very topical today and which will influence the type and quality of life of future generations and the very survival of our planet. The theme of this conference “Embracing Social and Environmental Change: the Influence and Role of Tourism”. My message to all of them is to ensure that at the end of these three days, we are better informed of the concept of sustainability in tourism for the planet and what it means for all of us. They will hopefully come up with new findings and recommendations that will further add to the existing knowledge and literature. I wish them all a very successful and fruitful conference and thank the staff of UTM, in particular Dr Durbarry Head of School of Sustainable Development, UTM and Conference Co-Chair and Professor Andrew Holden, Conference Co-Chair, University of Bedfordshire, for convening this conference.
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