Brussels, 15/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - Tourism rarely features in political, business or financial news, despite the high economic revenue that it generates. In order to create a closer relationship between the world of tourism and the media, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) organised a conference in Zagreb (Croatia) on 12-13 September entitled: “Tourism in the Headlines”, at which both sides were represented. Tourism is “an engine of economic growth and one of the most effective creators of new jobs” and this should be reflected in the media, said Croatia's Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor. Although the high proceeds of tourism were in no way questioned by media representatives present (CNN, Time Magazine, Newsweek International), they did believe that a major communication effort was required on the part of tourism stakeholders in order to capture media attention. “If tourism wants to grab attention, it needs to move from the numbers to the people as it is the people (behind the numbers) that make a story”, said Frederik Pleitgen, CNN correspondent. After the conference, those taking part published a statement calling for a strong relationship between tourism stakeholders and the media and comprising concrete recommendations for establishing active and constructive dialogue between those concerned, in order to pass interesting, quality information on to the media. (IL/transl.jl)