I am very pleased, on behalf of Durban Tourism, to be able to welcome so many delegates and participants to COP 17 in Durban. COP 17 is one of the world’s most significant gatherings and deliberations, and it is a real honour for the city of Durban to host an event of such global magnitude.

The environment is everyone’s concern and it is one of the most troubling issues of our day. How we engage on environmental issues today, how we rectify the wrongs of the past and how we prepare for the future will affect all the nations of the world, from rich to poor, and will determine the course of this blue planet on which we live, and which we will hand down to our children, and their children.

One is tempted to think of only big business, manufacturing and consumer consumption as being the prime causes of global environmental issues. But tourism too, and the irresponsible development of areas has had a huge effect on the environment. Now that air travel is so widespread, and large numbers of people especially in the developed nations have more income and more leisure time, the pressure on the environment, especially in very popular areas of the globe has increased dramatically.

In the last few decades, many irresponsible developments internationally have scarred coastlines, sensitive river areas and natural zones in the interests of tourism, as many countries have seen that tourism can be a huge generator of GDP, and rules have been relaxed or even ignored for development.

In more recent years, however, the effects of exploitative tourism have been evident in both the results from natural disasters such as tsunamis and man-made effects from pollution, traffic and loss of green areas. This has caused something of a backlash, as more and more eco-friendly tourists have placed demands for more sensitive development, and eco-tourism has become important in its own right as an earner of GDP without the negative effects of wholesale development.

In many respects, the apartheid policies of the old South Africa, and international sanctions meant that few international chains and businesses were interested in developing major facilities in South Africa. This has had the somewhat beneficial effect of preserving much of South Africa from over-development and environmental destruction from tourism. We still have a pristine country in many areas, and now that we are back in the world arena, we have the responsibility to ensure that tourism development is done sensitively and with the environment and the future of the country in mind. Being sensitive to the environment therefore guides our new developments, from our stadium, to our beachfront, to the green hub along our Umgeni River. As the city’s tourism authority, Durban Tourism is actively committed to tourism which is both environmentally and culturally sensitive and that is sustainable for the generations who will inherit the land.

Events such as COP 17 are very important to the city. They create new jobs through tourism and spending in the city. They create global awareness of all that Durban has to offer, environmentally, culturally and as a leading African and global destination. Between 20 and 30 000 people will have visited the city during the course of this event. All our hotels and bed & breakfast accommodation is booked to capacity. We estimate that over R750 million will be generated into our local city economy. The benefits of the event in Durban are huge.

At the same time as celebrating all the benefits of the conference to Durban, we need to keep in mind the sobering deliberations at hand in a world split into rich and poor nations, with a global population of 7 billion in an uncertain future environmental scenario. We at Durban Tourism trust that the conference will generate positive outcomes, and we wish all our visitors a productive, positive and happy stay on our shores. We hope you will find good reason to return to our city soon.