Despite the many uncertainties clouding the tourism industry, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) says that world tourism remains firmly in positive territory with plenty of potential for further growth.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day International Conference on Cultural Tourism and Local Communities held Wednesday in the historic city of Yogyakarta, UNWTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli said recent developments had shown promising growth in the tourism sector worldwide.

Hailing 2005 as a milestone year for tourism, Frangialli said the year had not just demonstrated world tourism's resilience in recovering from the devastating tsunami, but had also seen the 800-million-international-tourists mark being surpassed for the first time in history, with 5.5 percent growth being notched up worldwide.

"Particularly in Asia and the Pacific, the number of international arrivals continued to grow, by 7 percent, in 2005 even after an astonishing 28 percent growth in 2004," Frangialli told the conference, which was officially opened by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.

Some 350 delegates, comprising ministers, senior officials, industry leaders and academics from 31 participating countries, are attending the conference, which is being organized jointly by the Indonesian Culture and Tourism Ministry and the UNWTO.

Among the participating countries are India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, the Philippines, the U.S., Canada, Thailand, and Suriname.

The income generated in 2005, he said, had yet to be fully calculated. But, it would definitely be much greater than in 2004, when the figure was US$622 billion.

One year ago, he said, due to the tsunami tragedy, the future of tourism in Indonesia, Thailand, Maldives and Sri Lanka looked bleak.

"One year on, today I am happy to state that the future of tourism for these four countries looks as bright and promising as in the pre-tsunami period," said Frangialli.

The conference, said Frangialli, was aimed at exploring the challenges and potential of cultural tourism for local communities, and specifically the contribution it could make to poverty alleviation.

As a specialized agency of the United Nations, he underlined, the UNWTO was committed to assisting the international community toward the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals, in particular the reduction of extreme poverty.