Europa-park in Germany, which will host next year’s IAAPA Summer Meeting, recently received recognition from the Council of Europe for contributing to the international understanding of people in Europe. Europa-park is co-sponsoring youth camps, platforms for families, and Internet chat rooms where young people from different countries can meet. The Council named Europa-park President Roland Mack as an “Ambassador to Families.”

It is this potential for amusement parks and attractions to make a real contribution to understanding and peace that prompted the IAAPA Board of Directors to designate the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT) as one of the three global outreach programs endorsed by the IAAPA board and recommended to members for support and participation (Give Kids The World and UNICEF are the other two).

IIPT is a unique organization. It does not ask its supporters to raise money. Rather, IIPT is dedicated to fostering and facilitating tourism initiatives that contribute to international understanding and peace—activities like the ones taking place at Europa-park. IIPT is based on a vision of the world’s largest industries—travel and tourism—becoming the world’s first global peace industry, acting on the belief that every traveler is potentially an ambassador for peace.
IIPT was founded about 15 years ago by Louis D’Amore, the owner of a travel agency, who, when terrorism first appeared as a global threat, sold his business and devoted the proceeds to the creation of an institute to promote peace through the tourism industry. D’Amore believed the travel and tourism industry would be harmed more by terrorism than most other businesses. He also believed the industry was strategically situated to make a significant contribution to world peace.
Every day hundreds of millions of people leave their homes and travel to distant destinations on business or in search of pleasure and recreation. Increasingly travel takes place across national borders and brings people of diverse cultures and traditions into contact with one another. Modern technologies make it possible for these people to learn about and communicate with each other,and global commerce has made them more interdependent than ever before. The concept of the “global village” has become a cliché, but it is nonetheless a growing reality. As people travel, they discover that people, no matter where they’re from, are, in many ways, the same.

This was demonstrated in a most dramatic way when IAAPA went to Russia in the 1980s, before the fall of communism. The delegation I traveled with was warmly received, despite the poor conditions in Russia at that time. Our hosts were friendly and fun loving, and proud of being in the park business.

One evening we were waiting in our hotel in St. Petersburg for a midnight train that was to take us back to Moscow. A group of five or six people from the Culture Ministry came to our room with bread, sausages, wine, cheese, and vodka to help us pass the time. Stories of life in our two countries began to flow, followed by singing and then the exchange of information about families and grandchildren and hopes and aspirations. Then a round of toasts began.

When it came my turn, I took note of the significance of this visit. We had come of age in America under a dark cloud of fear and suspicion about Russia and the Russians; we were living with the constant threat of an atomic war between our two countries. I told my story: As a youngster, I practiced hiding under my desk at school in the event of an air attack. And here we were in a room full of Russians (who were not only living under communism, but working in the Soviet government) laughing and singing together.

Then the deputy minister of culture rose and gave her toast. She began by saying, “Mr. Graff, while you were hiding under your desk in Clark, South Dakota, in the U.S.A., I was hiding under my desk in Tarskoe Sela, Russia, fearing an attack from you!”

Many of us are privileged to travel widely through the world. Almost always we are well received, and always we discover that when we sit down around a table and begin to tell our stories, we are so much like our hosts and guests.

This was what D’Amore knew to be true. He believes that those of us involved in doing business with and entertaining those hundreds of millions of travelers can be a powerful force for peace if we will just devote some time and imagination to promoting understanding and friendship for travelers.

The institute has developed a credo for the peaceful traveler. It reads like this:

Credo of the Peaceful Traveler
Grateful for the opportunity to travel and to experience the world, and because peace begins with individuals, I affirm my personal responsibility and commitment to:
• Journey with an open mind and gentle heart.
• Accept with grace and gratitude the diversity I encounter.
• Revere and protect the natural environment that sustains all life.
• Appreciate all cultures I discover.
• Respect and thank my hosts for their welcome.
• Offer my hand in friendship to everyone I meet.
• Support travel services that share these views and act upon them and, by my spirit, words, and actions.
• Encourage others to travel the world in peace.

The last line defines what IIPT asks you to do in your business: to encourage your guests to travel the world in peace. This is what Europa-park is doing with its program.
How you do this in your place of business is up to you. It can be something very simple or something dramatic.

Because its supporters span the broad travel and tourism industry, IIPT does not have specific guidelines on how a park or attraction should achieve this goal. However, when the idea of supporting IIPT was introduced to the IAAPA Marketing Committee last fall, members of the committee made suggestions that parks might consider. Among them were:

1) Display the Credo of the Peaceful Traveler in the form of a prominent sign, certificate, or banner.
2) Display the IIPT logo and/or credo on the back of park/attraction brochures.
3) Have employees wear the IIPT logo pin on their uniforms.
4) Link your web site to the IIPT web site, and/or put information on IIPT on your web site, preferably in several languages.
5) Have IIPT brochures available for distribution at members’ guest services/relations offices, or handed out in the parking lot.
6) Designate one day during the season as IIPT Day, during which appropriate means for acquainting guests with IIPT are carried out.
7) Print an article explaining IIPT in your employee newsletters.
8) Develop and include in your employee training program messages that will sensitize employees to the opportunities they have to be ambassadors for understanding and peace as they interact with park/attractions guests.
9) Create a display area in your park or attraction that celebrates the culture of your country, as well as the home countries of your guests.
10) Create a small peace garden in the park in which the IIPT objectives and credo are featured, possibly along with profiles of persons who have contributed significantly to world peace, such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dag Hammerskjöld, etc.
11) Sponsor an essay contest on the theme of “How the Amusement Industry Can Promote World Peace.”
12) Create the kind of activities being carried on by Europa-park.

IIPT also sponsors global and regional conferences on Peace Through Tourism. These conferences attempt to focus attention on the poverty, disease, and racism that create a breeding ground for conflict in various countries. The conferences also identify ways in which the travel and tourism industry can contribute to the alleviation of these problems.

The power of our industry to contribute to a more peaceful world rests in the thousands of guests coming to our parks and attractions every day. It may be idealistic, but it is not unrealistic to envision the positive effect that promoting understanding and goodwill among these travelers can have.

For more information on IIPT go to www.iipt.org. To become involved as a Coalition Partner with IIPT, contact John Graff, 8356 Queen Elizabeth Blvd., Annandale, Va. 22003. Telephone: 703/425-5276. Fax: 703/425-0432. e-mail: jgraff1@cox.net.