An e-conference addressing the role of communication in sustainable tourism development took place between May 29 and June 9, 2006. The World Bank, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) envisioned the forum as a means to bring together development practitioners, tourism professionals, decision-makers, academicians and communication specialists representing various national institutions, private sector and media organizations, NGOs, international institutions, and donors active in the field of communication and sustainable tourism to discuss the role that communication can play in designing and implementing sustainable tourism strategies and projects at national and local levels; to share experiences, information and perspectives; to identify and share lessons learned and best practices; and to consolidate knowledge on development communication in sustainable tourism programs. Discussions focused on the following topics: • The role that communication can play in designing and implementing sustainable tourism strategies and projects at national and local levels; • The importance of sharing experiences, information and perspectives; • Identification of lessons learned and most effective practices; and • The exchange of knowledge on development communication in sustainable tourism programs. The e-conference was part of the preparation for the World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) and was hosted on www.devcomm-congress. org. It consisted of the following five concurrent sessions, moderated by the persons listed below. The e-conference benefited from the active contribution of more than 700 registered participants from all six continents. A seminar series in was held in Washington, DC, during the summer of 2006 as a follow-on to the e-conference in order to further explore ideas raised in the five sessions. Material from those presentations has been woven into the session summaries that follow.
