Madrid, 27 July 2004 - Malaysia, the host country of World Tourism Day 2004 (WTD), will dedicate almost all of September to celebrating the main theme, Sport and Tourism.

WTD events will be officially launched on 3 September by the Minister of Tourism Datuk Dr. Leo Michael Toyad. Among WTD events will be poster drawing and an essay writing competition at all secondary schools in Malaysia, sports and tourism carnival and exhibitions, and the launching of the WTD commemorative stamps.

To culminate the nation-wide celebrations the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism will organize a conference on the theme Sports and Tourism: Two Living Forces for Mutual Understanding, Culture and the Development of Society on the 27th of September, which is celebrated worldwide as World Tourism Day. Among the keynote speakers will be the Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato' Seri Abdullah Badawi and the WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli. The conference plans to adopt the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Sports and Tourism.

September 27 was chosen to coincide with an important milestone in world tourism, the anniversary of the adoption of the WTO Statutes in 1970. This year's theme coincides with some important sports events such as the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, European football championship in Portugal and others.

The theme for WTD 2005 is Travel and transport: from the imaginary of Jules Verne to the reality of the 21st century.

Note for editors:
The institution of so-called world days to highlight among government and private circles and the public at large, salient features of the activities of intergovernmental organizations, is a widespread practice. Each year, the organizations belonging to the United Nations system celebrate world days devoted to the United Nations issues such as: world peace, human rights, health, literacy, environment, womanhood, childhood, cooperation for development, meteorology, telecommunications, etc.