A Tourism of Peace ahead of the Jubilee: Vatican Message for World Tourism Day 2024

‘Tourism and peace’ … These are the central themes of the Message for the 45th World Tourism Day, released by the First Section of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization. The combination of tourism and peace, chosen by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, is at the heart of the traditional World Day of Tourism, which will be celebrated on September 27, 2024.

“We couldn't think of a better choice,” the Vatican’s message says “to offer those who set out on a journey a moment of reflection and personal commitment. Cultural exchange between peoples, is experienced in a special way through tourism, and can also be transformed into a concrete commitment to peace."

In a time like ours, impacted as it is by war which brings with it enormous consequences for people's lives, it is natural that an industry like tourism goes through a period of difficulty. The text states:  "The lack of tourists creates further poverty among peoples who lose out on a form of income they depend upon to live with due dignity".

The Dicastery for Evangelization, which is responsible for religious tourism, “intends to do everything possible to ensure that the message of peace can reach those who work in the tourism sector, so that through them a chain can be created of genuine peacemakers".

In this complex year for geopolitical and social events, the message offers a vote of thanks for "the great pastoral ministry carried out by many priests and lay people who dedicate their lives to making tourism and pilgrimages active and fruitful". Despite the lack of security, they "are invited to open up new paths, keeping alive the possibility that the traditional pilgrimage routes will soon be operational again in those countries that traditionally preserve the richness of our faith and our history".

The Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery, Archbishop Fisichella writes in the document that "the interest that moves millions of tourists to set out on their journeys" can be "easily combined with a commitment to fraternity". Travelers and pilgrims can become true "messengers of peace" for the whole world. Beauty can in fact be one of the keys to Peace. “The beauty of a landscape releases a new appreciation of life and the desire to live”.

Tourism also fuels the "culture of encounter", a culture which is freed from any form of selfishness or individualism, as Pope Francis often reminds us. “This needs to be placed at the center of our pastoral efforts in tourism”. Religious tourism, in particular, "cannot ignore this perspective and is called upon to be a credible promoter of these links". Being peacebuilders "is not only possible but is required of those who undertake a journey".

This year, World Tourism Day will be celebrated a few months before the opening of the Holy Door, on December 24th, and the beginning of the 2025 Jubilee year which has as its motto "Pilgrims of Hope", in which millions of people will flock to Rome. Tourism, therefore, "characterized by this hope, can also become a concrete and tangible sign for the building of peace".

The full message can be downloaded by clicking here.