when did world tourism day begin

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More than 40 years celebrating this important economic sector

Tourism is one of the world’s most important economic sectors. It employs one in every ten people on Earth and provides livelihoods to hundreds of millions more. For some countries, it can represent over 20 percent of their GDP.

It allows people to experience some of the world’s cultural and natural riches and brings people closer to each other, highlighting our common humanity.

Tourism is an essential pillar of the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  and the commitment to our Sustainable Development Goals, especially  goals 8 ,  12 , and  14 . It serves as a first  entry point to the world of work , especially for women, youth, migrant workers, and rural populations in developing and least developed countries (LDCs). Women represent a majority of the tourism sector workforce, while half of that workforce is under 25 years of age. Moreover, in many parts of the world, the protection of biodiversity and conservation rely heavily on the tourism sector and the revenue it generates.

The constant growth of the tourism sector during the last six decades reflects more progressive access to tourism thanks to the decline in the cost of transport and the world-wide growth of the middle classes. The recognition of the right to holidays in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the improved adoption of labor rights in many countries have also supported its development. These factors also serve as a backdrop for the resilience shown by tourism in recent years. The sector has experienced almost uninterrupted growth despite challenges such as the global economic crisis and natural disasters.

The many important contributions of tourism encouraged the   UN World Tourism Organization  ( UNWTO ) to institute World Tourism Day in a meeting that took place in Spain, commencing the first celebration of the observance in the year 1980. This date was chosen to coincide with an important milestone in world tourism: the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes on 27 September 1970.

Afterwards, during its 70th session in 2015, the United Nations General Assembly designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development (resolution  A/RES/70/193 ), in which it encouraged support for sustainable tourism as a means of promoting and accelerating sustainable development, especially poverty eradication.

History: 42 years - 42 themes

World Tourism Day: Explore the history, significance and 2023 theme

It's a day when the world celebrates not only the joy of travel but also the responsibility we all share in preserving the beauty and diversity of our planet for future generations..

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World Tourism Day 2021: History, theme, significance, and all you need to know

This year, the theme of World Tourism Day is ‘Tourism for Inclusive Growth’

World Tourism Day is observed on 27 September annually to raise awareness about the significance of tourism and how it affects social, political, cultural, and economic values globally. The day is marked to highlight the importance of the tourism sector in promoting and preserving cultures and heritage around the world.

World Tourism Day also acknowledges the contributions the tourism sector can make towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals. In times of the pandemic, as the tourism sector remains one of the worst affected sectors, here’s a look at the history and significance of the day.

On 27 September 1970, the statutes of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) were adopted. Five years later, these statues, considered a milestone in global tourism, paved the way for the establishment of the UNWTO .

The UNWTO celebrated the first World Tourism Day on 27 September, 1980, to mark the occasion of its establishment. Ever since then, the day has been marked across the world.

This year, the theme of World Tourism Day is “Tourism for Inclusive Growth,” focusing on growth and inclusive recovery. The UNWTO is focusing on the fact that there are people behind every tourism statistic and aims to acknowledge the same.

The international body said that it aims to ensure that every part of the tourism sector has a say in how the sector will shape in the future. The UNWTO said it would make efforts to “celebrate tourism’s unique ability to ensure that nobody is left behind as the world begins to open up again and look to the future”.

Significance

World Tourism Day remains significant as the sector employs one in every ten people on earth, according to the United Nations . For some nations, the sector represents over one-fifth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

During the pandemic, 90 percent of world heritage sites were closed and millions, who were dependent on tourism for their livelihoods, left unemployed. The purpose of World Tourism Day is to highlight the importance the tourism sector plays in our lives and to focus on inclusive growth in the sector.

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World Tourism Day 2021: Know its history, significance and theme of the year

World Tourism Day 2021: Here is the day's history, significance and this year's theme.

Tourism and Global Economy go hand in hand. It is one of the many aspects that work towards boosting the country's GDP as they provide employment opportunities to millions around the world. Not only that, it is a way to preserve a country's culture and history as well as make everyone aware of the same. 

Therefore, September 27 is known as World Tourism Day that is celebrated globally. Tourism's political, socio-economic, and cultural impacts are discussed on this day as well as raise awareness about the same and how it impacts our economy. 

World Tourism Day was first designated in September 1979 by the World Tourism Organization. It officially began in 1980. The reason behind choosing September 27 as the day to celebrate this is also important. On this day, the UNWTO statutes were adopted on September 27, 1970. 

Significance

Tourism has the ability to bring the world together. Its involvement in the international community will only foster positive growth in various aspects. Tourism has a big role to play when it comes to a country's economy, especially when it comes to employment opportunities. When it comes to culture and history, what better way to preserve and appreciate it than by tourism promoting it. 

This year, the theme for the day is 'Tourism for Inclusive Growth.' COVID-19 had a major impact on everyone around the world. While it broke families, it also had a devastating impact on the global economy. One of the worst-hit sectors was tourism. With this theme in mind, the UNWTO aims to rebuild the world by bringing back tourism as countries slowly return to normalcy. As tourism is restarted, it will be a big boost for the economy. Along with that, the results of this growth should be spread far and wide in every corner of the world. No community should be left behind in this. 

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World Tourism Day 2020: Date, history, significance and celebrations amid Covid-19

World tourism day 2020: know all about when the un day is commemorated, its purpose and theme this year amid covid-19.

If there is one sector which has heavily borne the brunt of coronavirus in all the countries and washed out a massive chunk of their economy, it is the tourism industry. This year, World Tourism Day not only highlights travel sector’s importance in preserving and promoting culture and heritage all around the world but also presents an opportunity to rethink tourism industry’s future.

Through its social, cultural, political and economic value, the tourism sector contributes to the sustainable development goals. It can also help advance global cooperation beyond the pandemic in current times by bringing people together and promoting solidarity and trust.

About 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs are at risk as per the data from the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). A more sustainable and inclusive tourism sector in crucial given the loss of 1.5 to 2.8 per cent of global GDP has been forecasted by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Date and history

Ever since 1980, World Tourism Day is celebrated annually across the world on September 27. It was on this day in 1970 when the Statutes of the UNWTO were adopted which are considered a milestone in global tourism. UNWTO celebrated the first World Tourism Day as an international observance on September 27, 1980.

Significance

The purpose of this day is to raise awareness on the important of tourism in affecting the social, cultural, political and economic values of international community. In current times, it is important to raise awareness about the tourism sector given that 90% of World Heritages Sites closed as a result of the pandemic and young people in rural communities are three times more likely to be unemployed.

However, domestic tourism is expected to return before international tourism, as per UNWTO foresight. This could benefit rural communities if managed well.

Theme and celebrations amid Covid-19

The theme for World Tourism Day 2020 is “Tourism and Rural Development” as countries across the world depend on the sector to drive recovery. This year will celebrate the importance of tourism in providing jobs and opportunity, mostly for women and youth, in rural as well as big cities and in preserving cultural and natural heritage all around the world apart from being a leading employer and economic pillar.

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World Tourism Day

When is World Tourism Day

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THE EVOLUTION OF THE TOURISM SECTOR

25 Aug THE EVOLUTION OF THE TOURISM SECTOR

Tourism has evolved hand-in-hand with changing technology, communications and marketing practices.

While in 1950 the world welcomed 25 million international tourists, according to UNWTO data, by 2019 this had increased to 1.5 billion.

The massive increase in the number of people joining the middle classes globally, along with the falling cost of travelling, the emergence of low-cost airlines, and the rise of the internet and its impact on both social interactions and business models, are among the main factors behind the increase in tourist numbers.

• Thanks to the internet, almost everyone can easily buy a plane or train ticket, often at a low cost.
• The creation of new companies and market niches help consumers access travel in a more efficient and simple way, eliminating third parties. Travel agencies are being left in the background because of this.
• New accommodation and transportation platforms have also increased levels of competition and lowered costs for tourists.

So, what was seen as a luxury available to just a small few in 1950 had by 2020 become an achievable aspiration for a large number of people in every part of the world.

While the situation for tourism in 2021 is characterized by its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector continues to adapt  in order to restart and grow back stronger and more sustainably.

How and When Did Tourism Start?

Most of us love to travel and when we think about travelling, what we probably have in mind are the best two or three weeks of the year. Tourism has become a major industry and it creates around 100 million jobs worldwide.

Achim Riemann

In 1854, the first travel agency opened. In 1869, one of the first group tours was launched. It included attendance at the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt.

But how did it all start?

A long time ago, people initially moved around for practical reasons, such as looking for food or water, or fleeing natural disasters or enemies. But as early as ancient Egypt and in the other “high” cultures found throughout the continents at the time, people started to travel for religious reasons. They set out on pilgrimages, for example to Mecca, or on journeys to take a ritual bath in the Ganges River. That was the beginning of tourism.

What about modern tourism?

Modern tourism can be traced back to the so-called “Grand Tour”, which was an educational journey across Europe. One of the first who embarked on this journey was the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Wladyslaw IV Vasa, also known as Wladislaus Sigismundus, Prince of Poland and Sweden. And yes, the grand tour was just for the super-rich. In 1624, Wladyslaw travelled to Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic. (1)

Poor or even normal people had neither the money nor the time to go on a holiday. However, that started to change at the end of the 19th century. Around 1880, employees in Europe and North America were granted their first work-free days besides Sundays and the mostly Christian holidays, such as Easter or Christmas. These extra work-free days were usually unpaid in the beginning. Since most people couldn’t spare the money for travel, this led to excursions into the surroundings rather than travelling.

The founders of international “tourism” in Europe were the British

Thomas Cook is considered the founder of what is known as organized “package” holidays. In the last decades of the 19th century, the upper social classes in England were so wealthy due to the income from the British Empire that they were the first to be able to afford trips to far-flung areas. (1)

In 1854, the first travel agency opened. In 1869, one of the first group tours was launched. It included attendance at the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt. From 1889, people took holiday cruises on steamships with musical performances. Seaside holidays became really popular around 1900 (and continue to be popular to this today). From the 1970s onwards, many in the industrialised countries could finally afford a holiday trip. The first criticism over this arose at the beginning of the 1970s: due to tourism, there were as many tourists in Spain in 1973 as there were inhabitants. (2)

In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, 1.5 billion tourist arrivals were recorded around the world, a 4% increase compared to 2018's figures. The most visited countries in 2019 were France with 89 million tourists, followed by Spain with 83 million tourists and the United States with 80 million tourists. China and Italy sit at fourth and fifth places, respectively, with 63 million tourists in China and 62 million tourists in Italy. (3)

And what are the most visited tourist attractions worldwide? According to a recent research from TripAdvisor, these are the top five: the Colosseum (Italy), the Louvre (France), the Vatican, the Statue of Liberty (USA), the Eiffel Tower (France) (4).

• Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourismus , 12.03.2022
• Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massentourismus , 12.03.2022
• TravelBook: https://www.travelbook.de/ziele/laender/die-meistbereisten-laender-der-welt
• Travel Wanderlust: https://www.travelwanderlust.co/articles/most-visited-tourist-attractions-in-the-world/  12.03.2022

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How did tourism become so popular?

• By Sarah Leeson

Tourists use their smartphones to take pictures near Hallstaettersee lake in Hallstatt, Austria.

Humans have always traveled, but tourism is now one of the biggest industries in the world, worth trillions of dollars and contributing to about 1 in 10 jobs internationally. Centuries ago, humanity had no need for — and no interest in — going to places like beaches or mountains for the sake of leisure. That’s according to University of New England history professor Eric Zuelow . In his book “ A History of Modern Tourism ,” Zuelow shares the story of how we learned to love travel and where the idea of the vacation even came from. 

Zuelow traces it all back to the “Grand Tour ” of the 17th and 18th centuries. Wealthy Europeans were initially paid by their governments to journey for educational purposes, such as preparation for diplomatic positions. These travelers came back boasting about stories of their amazing experiences, full of culture and newly-refined tastes  — just like college kids after a semester abroad.

“We’re talking about 16-, 17-, 18-year-old men who are going to the continent … and the way most of them spent their time was not learning languages and meeting the right people. It was drinking heavily, gambling and seeing prostitutes,” Zuelow said. ”Then they would come back to England and they hadn’t learned any languages, but they wanted to show that they’d had this experience. They would wave their arms around wildly expressing their points, speaking with these affected accents, refusing to eat the good roast beef of England  — which just freaked out their parents.”

Related:  Are online travel platforms responsible for your safety?

The wealthy couldn’t keep that grand experience to themselves forever, though. With the advent of steam power, the opportunity for travel widened, but it took more than just new forms of transportation for tourism to continue its spread. 

“It’s not just technology that drives development of more democratized tourism,” Zuelow said. “You have to want to travel, so you have to learn that, and that happens through travel writing and guidebooks and so on. You have to have enough money to travel, so technology is going to widen the number who have enough money, and you have to have enough time.”

Bit by bit, travel came to the masses, both through our own growing interest in it and from some nudges from our governments during times of international turmoil.

“There were three competing political ideologies essentially that defined 20th-century history: you’ve got democracies, you’ve got communism, and you’ve got fascism,” Zuelow said. “All of those saw tourism as a way of promoting their ideology and a way of promoting their agenda, and so they developed organizations and institutions in order to use tourism to communicate with the people, to draw the people together.”

These days though, travel for the individual tends to be more for personal reasons than ideological ones, and, in recent years, tourism has exploded into a global industry. In 2018 , tourism was responsible for $8.8 trillion of the world’s gross domestic product and 319 million jobs. That bears repeating: 319 million jobs worldwide from tourism.

Related:  Squatters occupy Venice homes in housing protest as tourism surges

“It’s something that we don’t necessarily talk about,” Zuelow said, “and yet tourism is this just massive thing.”

An industry of that size naturally comes with downsides. In particular, the toll of “overtourism” can already be seen in places like Venice, where overcrowding is becoming a serious issue , and Mount Everest, which had one of its deadliest years on record due to the growing turnout of hopeful climbers . The environment is also at the forefront of concerns when it comes to tourism. Reportedly, tourism is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions .

Still, it doesn’t seem as if tourism is going anywhere any time soon  — lots of us have planes to catch. 

Sarah Leeson is an associate producer at Innovation Hub.

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Putting the 'memorial' in Memorial Day: How the holiday evolved over time

Though it falls nearly a month before summer actually begins, many consider Memorial Day as the unofficial kickoff to summer. On May 27, folks will be firing up the grill and enjoying a day off work, but the holiday has “memorial” in its name for a reason.

The first national observance of Memorial Day came courtesy of Gen. John A. Logan , commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. On May 5, 1868, Logan issued General Order No. 11 calling for a national day of remembrance for Union soldiers killed in action:

"The 30th day of May, 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion... (II) It is the purpose of the commander in chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year..."

The new holiday was called Decoration Day and it is believed that May 30 was chosen because flowers would be in bloom across the nation.

More: How many federal holidays are there? Make sure you don't miss your days off in 2024-25

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Honoring soldiers killed in other American wars wasn’t commonplace until after World War I. Also, the name Memorial Day became more widely used than Decoration Day after World War II, but wasn’t declared the official name by federal law until 1967.

On June 28, 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, moving Memorial Day from its traditional date to the last Monday in May and creating a three-day weekend for federal employees. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971.

To guarantee that the sacrifices of America’s fallen heroes are never forgotten, Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed into law the National Moment of Remembrance Act in 2000. On Memorial Day, Americans are urged to pause at 3 p.m. for a minute of silence to remember those who died serving their country.

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Hour by hour: A brief timeline of the Allies’ June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of occupied France

FILE - Under the cover of naval shell fire, American infantrymen wade ashore from their landing craft during the initial Normandy landing operations in France, June 6, 1944. More than 2,200 Allied aircraft begin bombing German defenses and other targets in Normandy. They are followed by 1,200 aircraft carrying more than 23,000 American, British and Canadian airborne troops. British forces landing in gliders take two strategic bridges near the city of Caen. (AP Photo/Peter Carroll, File)

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OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — A brief timeline of events on D-Day , June 6, 1944.

Shortly after midnight: More than 2,200 Allied aircraft begin bombing German defenses and other targets in Normandy. They are followed by 1,200 aircraft carrying more than 23,000 American, British and Canadian airborne troops. British forces landing in gliders take two strategic bridges near the city of Caen. The force commander uses the codewords “ham and jam” to report the successful capture.

1:30 a.m.: U.S. 101st Airborne Division begins landing behind the most western of the five landing beaches, codenamed Utah.

2:30 a.m.: U.S. 82nd Airborne Division also lands but many units are scattered.

5 a.m.: Allied naval forces begin shelling German coastal defenses.

6:30 a.m.: Beach landings begin.

How D-Day progressed on the five beaches:

Utah: Assaulted by U.S. forces. This beach saw the fewest Allied casualties: 197 troops killed or wounded among 23,000 that land.

Omaha: The longest, most heavily defended and bloodiest beach. U.S. forces suffer 2,400 casualties but still land 34,000 troops by nightfall.

Gold: Taken by British forces, which land 25,000 soldiers and push German forces inland, for 400 casualties.

Juno: Joint Canadian-British assault lands 21,000 troops; more than 1,150 casualties.

Sword: Assisted by French and British commandoes, the British 2nd Army takes the easternmost beach, landing 29,000 soldiers for 630 casualties.

Sources: U.S. Defense Department, the White House, Juno Beach Center, Imperial War Museum, National Army Museum

Counting down the days: UN’s 218 international days explained

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This month will see more global observances than there are days in June, commemorating everything from bicycles to oceans. But, how did the UN start marking global dates?

Right now, the UN observes 218  international days (and counting)!

The tradition started long before the UN’s inception in 1945, but it didn’t take long for the Organization and its growing membership to embrace designated days as a powerful advocacy tool.

Check out this classic video from 2017 on the occasion of the  International Day of Happiness , celebrated on 20 March:

Who picks the days?

One of the first designations came from the UN General Assembly’s declaration in 1947 that 24 October should be celebrated as  United Nations Day , the anniversary of the adoption of the UN Charter that founded the Organization.

Since then, UN Member States have proposed more than 200 designations, presenting draft resolutions to the General Assembly so the entire membership, representing 193 nations, can vote.

Other UN specialised agencies have also made designations, like  World AIDS Day , declared by World Health Organization ( WHO ) members and marked annually on 1 December to bring people together around the world to demonstrate international solidarity in the face of the pandemic.

The Assembly has created the majority of global observances, declaring them with a two-thirds majority vote in favour of resolutions outlining the reasoning behind each day.

What are the newest days?

The world body declared its latest global day just last month. It unanimously adopted a resolution proclaiming 25 May  World Football Day , as 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the first international football tournament in history with the representation of all regions as part of the 1924 Summer Olympic Games, held in Paris.

Celebrations kicked off at UN Headquarters, where UN Member States held a special meeting on the occasion.

That took place a day after another new designation marked its first observance on 24 May 2024. International Day of the Markhor celebrates the iconic and ecologically significant species found across mountain ranges from Afghanistan to Turkmenistan.

Making rare exceptions

Sometimes there are exceptions.

In 1971, then UN Secretary-General U Thant declared 22 April as the world’s first Earth Day .

But, it took the General Assembly 38 years to catch up on declaring a global environment day.

Watch UN Video’s Stories from the UN Archive episode on the UN chief’s Earth Day declaration in 1971 below:

In 2009, UN Member States designated 5 June as  World Environment Day .

That global designation has since become the planet’s largest ecology-focused day, observed around the world annually.

Check out this year’s call to join #GenerationRestoration to celebrate the day below:

Doubling up on days

Over the decades, the calendar has gotten a little crowded.

That’s why some days share. On 5 June, while the world commemorates ecology, it will also observe the  International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing .

One of the busiest days is 21 March, which UN Member States have designated as the start of the Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination as well as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination , International Day of Nowruz and World Down Syndrome Day .

There was also room on the calendar on 21 March for World Poetry Day , declared so by the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) membership.

Watch this epic UN Video episode from its Stories from the UN Archive collection , when United States poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou read The Human Family at the UN in 1996:

Spotlighting global issues

International days can mobilise political will and resources to address global problems while celebrating and reinforcing human achievement.

By creating special observances, the UN promotes global awareness and action on these issues.

Most importantly, governments, civil society, the public and private sectors, schools, universities and citizens can make an international day a springboard for awareness raising.

‘Make every day Mandela Day’

The UN sees international days as occasions to educate the general public on issues of concern or mark a significant day or figure in history.

That was the case with  Nelson Mandela International Day . Celebrated annually on 18 July, the birthday of the late first democratically elected President of South Africa, who fought against apartheid and won after being jailed for 27 years for championing civil rights.

Watch the UN’s message on the first ever Mandela Day in 2010:

What year is this?

The UN also observes designated weeks, years and decades, each with a theme or topic.

We are now half way into the  Year of the Camelids , those dependable dromedaries that the UN has counted on for decades to bring lifesaving assistance to remote communities and peacekeepers to their missions.

The UN General Assembly declared 2024 the year of these heroes of the deserts and highlands.

Why? From alpacas to Bactrian camels, dromedaries, guanacos, llamas, and vicuñas, camelids contribute to food security, nutrition and economic growth as well as holding strong cultural and social significance for communities across the world.

Camelids also play a key role in the culture, economy, food security and livelihoods of communities in Andean highlands and in the arid and semi-arid lands in Africa and Asia, including Indigenous peoples.

Plus, they are just simply adorable.

What’s the world commemorating this week?

Find out all the UN’s days and weeks observed through the year  here .

Click on the links below to find out about each day’s origin and activities happening around the world this week and stay tuned to UN News :

• Global Day of Parents , 1 June
• World Bicycle Day 3 June
• International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression 4 June
• World Environment Day 5 June
• International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing 5 June
• Russian Language Day 6 June
• World Food Safety Day 7 June
• World Oceans Day 8 June
• UN International Days

It's officially Pride Month: Here's everything you should know about the global LGBTQ celebration

Here are the answers to some of the most common questions about LGBTQ Pride Month, annual LGBTQ Pride parades and the iconic 1969 Stonewall uprising.

What is LGBTQ Pride Month?

LGBTQ Pride Month is a commemoration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community that is part celebration and part protest. It is often associated with massive parades and parties that honor the community’s joys and accomplishments. But the rallies, marches and political actions can be just as important to draw attention to the issues still facing the community.

How did LGBTQ Pride Month start and why is it in June?

LGBTQ Pride Month traces its roots back to the 1969 Stonewall riots , which started on June 28, 1969. The first Pride marches started the following year, on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the multiday riots, and these one-day celebrations eventually evolved into a full month of LGBTQ pride.

According to a search of Newspapers.com, an online archive of more than 26,000 newspapers, the first mention of “Pride Month” was in a June 5, 1972, issue of Pennsylvania’s Delaware County Daily Times. In the article, gay activist Byrna Aronson talks about the gay rights rallies popping up across the country and shortly after says, “We call it Gay Pride week and Gay Pride Month, the whole month of June.”  

The first time The New York Times mentioned Pride Month, according to its online archive, was in a 1989 article about Mayor Ed Koch being heckled as he “proclaimed the month of June as Lesbian and Gay Pride and History Month” at a ceremony in Greenwich Village.

What are the Stonewall riots?

In the early-morning hours of Saturday, June 28, 1969, members of the New York City Police Department staged a raid at the Stonewall Inn, a mafia-run gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. While such raids were not uncommon at NYC gay bars at the time, what was unique on this night is that the patrons had decided to fight back.

The Stonewall riots , also known as the Stonewall uprising and the Stonewall rebellion, lasted several days and are credited as the spark that ignited the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement.

In June 2016, President Barack Obama designated the Stonewall Inn and the surrounding area a national monument, making it the first national monument honoring LGBTQ rights .

Check out these stories for more info :

• When it comes to Stonewall, the myths are as famous as the riots
• NYPD formally apologizes for 1969 Stonewall raid
• Stonewall police records shed new light on 1969 uprising

When was the first LGBTQ Pride march?

The first Pride marches in the U.S. took place on June 28, 1970, exactly one year after the start of the 1969 Stonewall riots. In New York, organizers dubbed their event the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. In a New York Times article the following day, the paper wrote: “Thousands of young men and women homosexuals from all over the Northeast marched from Greenwich Village to the Sheep Meadow in Central Park yesterday proclaiming ‘the new strength and pride of the gay people.’”

The same day as the NYC march, Los Angeles held a “Christopher Street West” celebration on Hollywood Boulevard that drew thousands. According to LGBTQ historian Lillian Faderman, there were also two “very small marches” in San Francisco and Chicago that year, but New York City’s was the largest by far.

Check out this story for more info :

• The road to America’s first LGBTQ Pride marches

What are the biggest LGBTQ Pride marches in the world?

New York City continues to be a global hub for Pride celebrations, drawing millions of people to its annual Pride March in June, which extends from midtown Manhattan to Greenwich Village.

Both São Paulo and New York City have drawn crowds of about 4 million people to their Pride celebrations, making them the largest events in the world. Cities like Madrid, Toronto and San Francisco also regularly draw hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of revelers.

When was the rainbow Pride flag created?

The rainbow Pride flag, the most enduring symbol of the LGBTQ rights movement, was created by seamster Gilbert Baker nearly half a century ago for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978, which drew hundreds of thousands of revelers.

“Up until the rainbow flag in 1978, the pink triangle had really functioned as kind of the symbol of homosexuality and gay rights, but it was designed by Hitler. It was put on us in the same way that they used the Star of David against Jews. It was a whole code of symbols that were used to oppress people,” Gilbert told NBC News in 2016. “So we needed something that was from us.”

Gilbert liked the idea of a flag because “flags are about power,” he said, adding: “I knew right away that the rainbow would be the perfect fit for us.”

“It expressed our diversity in terms of our gender, our race, our ages — all the ways we’re different, yet connected,” he said of the rainbow. “And then using something from nature, taking the rainbow, one of the most beautiful, magical, spiritual parts of nature and making that a symbol for our sexuality, for our human rights.”

When did the U.S. government first recognize LGBTQ Pride Month?

President Bill Clinton was the first to declare a Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in June 1999, the 30th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. In his proclamation, Clinton drew attention to recent violent attacks against the LGBTQ community, likely referring to the murder of Matthew Shepard in October 1998.

“We cannot achieve true tolerance merely through legislation; we must change hearts and minds as well. Our greatest hope for a just society is to teach our children to respect one another, to appreciate our differences, and to recognize the fundamental values that we hold in common,” Clinton wrote in the proclamation.

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Brooke Sopelsa is the editorial director of NBC Out, NBC News' LGBTQ digital destination. 

Isabela Espadas Barros Leal is an associate editor for NBC News' diversity verticals based in New York. 

Pride Month has started but what does that mean? A look at what it is, how it's celebrated

Pride Month has officially started as of June 1 and there’s a lot to celebrate.

Throughout history, people who identify with the LGBTQ+ community have struggled to gain equal rights within and to overcome adversity and discrimination.

But what is Pride Month exactly? Here's a look at the history of how it came to be and how it is celebrated.

Rainbow flag meaning: A brief history lesson on how the Pride flag came to be

What is Pride Month?

Pride Month commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York and celebrates the LGBTQ community and the fight for equal rights. 

The Stonewall Uprising began on June 28, 1969 , when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a prominent gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The protests that followed are credited with a shift in LGBTQ+ activism in the U.S.

The following year saw some of the first Pride parades in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Despite the pivotal role transgender people and women of color played in the riots, including trans activist Marsha P. Johnson , they were largely excluded from early Pride celebrations. 

"The reality is that most of the folks on the front lines at the Stonewall uprising were trans women, trans women of color, other people of color, butch lesbians,” Cathy Renna, Communications Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, told USA TODAY in 2022. “And yet somehow, the power that was coming together ... to put together Pride events was from cisgender , gay white men.”

Today, Pride Month presents an opportunity for visibility and community. In addition to celebrating LGBTQ love and joy, it’s also a time to highlight important policy and resource issues the community faces. In 2021, NYC Pride banned law enforcement presence at Pride events through 2025 because of escalating violence "against marginalized groups, specifically BIPOC and trans communities."

This year, anti-trans legislation is growing across the country. Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric online has also lead to threats at schools and hospitals and to trans communities , USA TODAY found.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, 130 bills targeting trans rights have been filed and 325 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed in 2024. More than 650 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in 2023.

When was Pride Month created?

The first Pride marches in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago happened on June 28, 1970, the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

In New York, thousands marched from Greenwich Village to Central Park in what is widely considered the first Pride parade in the U.S. 

But even before the first Pride parades, the gay rights movement was beginning to gain traction all over the country. In 1950, for example, activist Harry Hay founded the Mattachine Society, the first national gay rights organization. And in 1955, the first lesbian rights organization, the Daught ers of Bilitis , was founded.

The year 1965 saw the first “Reminder Day,” an annual picketing event outside of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall calling attention to the lack of civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community. In 1966, the Mattachine Society staged a “sip-in” at a Greenwich Village bar after the New York Liquor Authority banned serving gay patrons because they were “disorderly,” PBS reports. And in 1966, the Compton's Cafeteria riot began when a police officer manhandled a transgender customer at a San Francisco eatery. This led to the founding of the National Transsexual Counseling Unit. As the LGBTQ+ rights movement grew, the community turned away from outdated terms like transsexual and homosexual to transgender, gay and lesbian. While many consider these terms offensive, some still use them to describe their identities.

The Christopher Street Liberation Day March on June 28, 1970 , marked a shift from politeness to pride. In earlier protests, the “Homophile Movement” of the 1950s and 1960s focused on respectability – dressing in suits and skirts and carrying signs in protest. Post-Stonewall riots didn’t come with a dress code or tone requirement. 

“A new spirit has entered the struggle for homosexual freedom – a new spirit both militant in tone and revolutionary in orientation,” a 1970 Gay Liberation Front flyer reads. “Homosexuals at last have realized that they will never be able to be liberated by politely asking the system. Freedom is never given – it must be taken.”

What does LGBTQ+ stand for?

• B: Bisexual  
• T: Transgender
• Q: Queer, or sometimes questioning
• +: Encompasses other identities under the rainbow umbrella

Major Pride parades across the U.S.

Here’s a glimpse at the dates and themes of some of the country’s biggest pride celebrations: 

• Provincetown, MA: May 31-June 2
• Washington, D.C.: June 8 ( Parade ) and June 9 (Festival). The 2024 theme is "Totally Radical."
• Los Angeles: June 9 (Parade) and June 8 (LA Pride Festival). The 2024 theme is “Power in Pride.”
• Chicago: June 30 ( Parade ), June 22-23 ( Chicago Pride Fest )
• San Francisco: June 29-30 (Parade). The 2024 theme is “Beacon of Love."
• New York: June 30. The 2024 theme is “Reflect. Empower. Unite.”

Lawmakers mark the start to Pride Month on social media

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, President Joe Biden writes a message to the LGBTQ+ community.

“For generations, LGBTQI+ Americans have summoned the courage to live proudly – even when it meant putting their lives at risk,” Biden wrote in the post. “This Pride Month, we recommit to realizing the promise of America for all, to celebrating LGBTQI+ people, and to taking pride in the example they set.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shares the progress that California has made regarding LGBTQ+ rights on X.

“Always proud to represent San Francisco, especially during #PrideMonth as we mark our progress from Compton’s Cafeteria to City Hall, fighting HIV/AIDS to uplifting trans rights,” Pelosi wrote. “We embrace love, advance freedoms and - when we win - will enshrine LGBTQ+ Equality into law. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️”

In a X post, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) posted a video discussing Pride Month and things that have happened in recent years.

“While we have made incredible progress since the Stonewall riots over 50 years ago, including codifying marriage equality law. It is important to remember that that progress isn’t linear. Over the past few years we have sadly seen terrible attacks at the state and local level towards transgender Americans. We’ve seen members of the LGBTQ community ostracized and persecuted, often by craven politicians, for short term, political purposes," Warnock said. "All the while they are simply living as their most authentic selves. But that cannot weaken our resolve to keep working to build what Dr. King called the ‘beloved community’ where all of God’s children are embraced, no matter who they are, where they come from or who they love.”

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at  [email protected] . Follow her on  Instagram ,  Threads  and  X (Twitter) .

UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

Investing in people, planet and prosperity, supporting tourism’s green transition, investing in prosperity: fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | 27 - 28 September

Join the celebration! #WTD23  

UNWTO has identified investments as one of the key priorities for tourism’s recovery and future growth and development. For World Tourism Day 2023 , UNWTO highlights the need for more and better-targeted investments for people, for planet and for prosperity. Now is the time for new and innovative solutions, not just traditional investments that promote and underpin economic growth and productivity.

World Tourism Day 2023 will be a call to action to the international community, governments, multilateral financial institutions, development partners and private sector investors to unite around a new tourism investment strategy.

Zurab Pololikashvili

Read more  

António Guterres

3 ways to celebrate this World Tourism Day # WTD23

Celebrate World Tourism Day sharing these social media messages, graphics and animations.

Mark your calendars! Save the date for World Tourism Day 2023!

Tell the world how you celebrate #WTD joining the photo filter campaign ?

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• Official Messages
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* The designations employed in this section of the website do not imply the expression of any opinions whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

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June 4, 2024 - Modi declares victory in India election as BJP party faces shock setbacks

By Rhea Mogul, Jessie Yeung, Diksha Madhok, Antoinette Radford and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest India election news  or read through the updates below.

Photos: Scenes from India's general election

The votes were counted Tuesday after the world's largest election was held in India.

From April 19 to June 1, more than 640 million people cast their vote at polling stations from the high peaks of the Himalayas to the remote jungles of the west.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi  declared victory on Tuesday – but his goal of winning an unassailable majority lay in tatters with early results showing voters reduced the extent of his party’s grip on power.

Analysis: Modi, Ambani and Adani — the men shaping India’s economy 

Analysis from CNN’s Diksha Madhok 

In less than a decade, Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani has upended India’s telecom sector and become a top player in sectors ranging from media to retail as chairman of India’s most valuable private company: Reliance Industries.  

His ambition and breathless pace of expansion is matched by Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani group, who helms businesses ranging from ports and power to defense and aerospace. 

Reliance Industries and the Adani Group are sprawling conglomerates worth over $200 billion each, with businesses in sectors ranging from fossil fuels and clean energy to media and technology. 

Investors have been cheering the duo’s ability to adroitly bet on sectors prioritized for development by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

As a result, these three men — Modi, Ambani and Adani — are playing a fundamental role in shaping the economic superpower India will become in the coming decades. 

The South Asian country is poised to become a 21st-century economic powerhouse, offering a real alternative to China for investors hunting for growth and manufacturers looking to reduce risks in their supply chains. 

Worth $3.7 trillion in 2023, India is the world’s fifth largest economy, jumping four spots in the rankings during Modi’s decade in office and leapfrogging the United Kingdom. 

Sustained expansion will push India higher up the ranks of the world’s biggest economies, with some observers forecasting the South Asian nation to become number three behind only the US and China by 2027. 

Despite these successes, soaring youth unemployment and inequality remain stubbornly persistent problems. In 2022, the country ranked a lowly 147 on gross domestic product (GDP) per person, a measure of living standards, according to the World Bank. 

To spur growth, the Modi government has begun a massive infrastructure transformation and heavily promoting digital connectivity — with Adani and Ambani becoming key allies. 

Both tycoons are considered vocal champions of Modi, and prominent politicians from opposition parties in India have often questioned Modi’s ties with India’s super-rich. 

Read the full analysis.  

CNN’s Jessie Yeung contributed to this report from Mumbai.  

Analysis: Is India's free press not so free after a decade of Modi?

Analysis from CNN’s Aishwarya S. Iyer 

India is one of the largest media markets in the world , according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), with more than 20,000 daily newspapers across the country and about 450 privately owned channels dedicated to news, which broadcast in dozens of languages. 

Yet despite its size and diversity, critics say the media industry is growing increasingly subservient to Modi’s government.  

“There was a blend of public service, public interest and corporate private media that served a burgeoning urban middle class, but also showed interest in issues of rural development. Journalists were respected… Regulatory mechanisms were weak but not completely absent,” said Shakuntala Banaji, media professor at the London School of Economics.  “They have been all but destroyed in the last 10 years.” 

India fell 25 places on the Press Freedom Index between 2015 and 2023, to 161st place — below neighboring Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. In the latest index for this year it rose slightly to 159th place but remains below all neighbors except Bangladesh (165th). 

“There has been a sharp deterioration in the status of media over the last 10 years,” Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) India representative Kunal Majumder told CNN, adding that this included imprisonment and invoking terror laws to criminalize journalists. 

There has also been an uptick, it said, in the use of anti-terror laws — which allow for detention without trial or charge for up to 180 days — against reporters. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not taken a single solo press conference in his decade-long rule. 

The government of the popular but divisive leader stands accused by opponents of suppressing media pluralism. 

Modi critics fear further erosion of the protections afforded to India’s free press if he is elected. 

Meet the winners of India's economic boom 

From CNN's Jessie Yeung, Priti Gupta and Esha Mitra 

More than 40% of India’s 1.4 billion people are under 25: a tech-savvy and mostly English-speaking labor force. Like millions of migrants, many of them are drawn to the country’s financial capital Mumbai, full of aspiration and ambition. And it’s stories like these that inspire them. 

The tech developer: Growing up in the slums of Mumbai, Javed Khatri never used a smartphone or computer.  

“In the region where I used to stay, one of the best things that one could think of was just to complete 10th grade, and then work at a call center or sell vegetables or work at a garage or do some kind of odd jobs,” says Khatri, now 30. “That was our topmost ambition.” 

But unlike many children in the slums, he completed 10th grade – the first person in four generations of his family to do so – then studied computer science at an engineering college.  

He is now building an online platform to connect tech firms with engineers. He moved his family out of the slum, and supports his parents. Both his siblings went to college and pursued their own careers. 

None of this would have been possible a generation ago, he says. 

The influencer: Apoorva Mukhija hadn’t planned to be a content creator, so after graduation she took a job with a tech firm in Bangalore, the southern city known as “India’s Silicon Valley.” 

“Then one day I just woke up, realized … (my job) just didn’t pay as well as content did, and I hated living in that city,” Mukhija, 22, tells CNN from a pastel-pink couch at her new apartment in Mumbai, which she says is her “dream city.” 

Her career has thrived, winning her recognition from local media and amassing 1.3 million Instagram followers. 

The internet holds a wealth of opportunities for young Indians. The country’s influencer marketing industry is expected to be worth more than $281 million in 2024, according to consultancy EY India. Smartphones and social media are fueling this growth.  

The shoemaker: At age 13, Jameel Shah ran away from his village in Bihar, India’s poorest state, where his father wasn’t earning enough from farming to send the kids to school.  

In Mumbai, he saw an opportunity in the expensive imported dance shoes required for dance classes. 

He took two samples back to the narrow alleys of Dharavi, a hub for leather and textile manufacturers. With their expertise, and his own experience working in bag and wallet factories, Shah began experimenting. 

The business grew, attracting stylists and choreographers who redistributed the shoes to dance studios. And they even made it onto the big screen. 

Almost two decades later, Shah Shoes has helped support his family. He’s bought a house for his parents and started an education center in his home village teaching literacy to those who can’t afford school. 

A key tool was the rise of social media, particularly Facebook, helping him find customers – which Shah credited to Prime Minister Modi’s push for a “digital India.” 

Read the full story.  

Analysis: Under Modi, India's military has grown stronger 

Analysis from CNN’s Brad Lendon 

India’s armed forces, the world’s second-largest in terms of personnel, have made big improvements in their abilities under Prime Minister Narendra Modi — but face challenges no matter who wins the election, an analyst said. 

Viraj Solanki, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the armed forces have centralized control under Modi while making improvements to joint operations based on the theater where forces are deployed, rather than what each service would like to do. 

Those include setting up integrated battle groups along the country’s borders with China and Pakistan, Solanki said. 

China, whose People’s Liberation Army is the world’s biggest military force, represents India’s biggest worry going forward, he said. 

“India’s ‘military clout’ remains clearly below China’s” and can be expected to remain so, especially since Beijing’s defense budget is three times as large as New Delhi’s, Solanki added.  

The Modi government has stepped up defense ties with the United States, Japan and Australia — members of the Quad partnership along with India — as a way to offset China’s advantages. 

But Solanki said improvements to the Indian military are hamstrung by two key factors. More than half of its defense budget is spent on personnel and pensions, and much of its hardware is of Russian or Soviet origin, meaning spare parts and upgrades may be in short supply as Moscow’s war in Ukraine soaks up those resources. 

Analysis: India has grown closer to US under Modi 

From CNN’s Rhea Mogul  

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was once shunned by the United States.  

Denied a visa for “severe violations of religious freedom,” he was effectively banned from entering the country for nearly a decade.  

But in the years since that ban was lifted, Modi has been progressively embraced by the White House. 

While the US has positioned itself as a democratic protector in an increasingly populist and polarized era, it has seemingly turned a blind eye to New Delhi’s alleged human rights abuses at home — where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has come under scrutiny from rights groups and opposition lawmakers for its increasingly strident brand of Hindu nationalist politics and an ongoing crackdown on dissent. 

Modi and India, the world’s largest democracy, are necessarily a lynchpin in Biden’s strategy in Asia. As the world’s most populous country, no major global challenge, from climate change to advances in technology, can be addressed without India’s buy-in, in Biden’s view.   

Both New Delhi and Washington are becoming increasingly uneasy about Beijing’s growing military might, aggressive territorial claims on land and at sea, and growing economic influence over its smaller neighbors. 

In an era of growing tensions between the US and China, there are few partners that Biden is more eager to cultivate. 

What's changed since India's first election? 

From Esha Mitra in New Delhi 

India’s first general elections began in October 1951, four years after it gained independence from British rule, and soon after it became a republic in 1950.  

The election lasted about four months and the Indian National Congress emerged victorious in February 1952.  

Population boom: India then had a population of about 361 million people with 173 million registered electors.  

Since then, the population has increased nearly four-fold to 1.429 billion , with more than five times the number of eligible voters, according to the Election Commission of India. 

From paper to voting machines: In the first elections, Indians used paper ballots to cast their votes.  

Electronic voting machines were first used in the state of Kerala in 1982. But because there was no law prescribing their use, the Supreme Court struck down that election. In 1989 laws were amended to allow the use of voting machines after consensus was reached.  

In recent years, the validity of voting machines has again been questioned — this time by opposition parties that say they are being misused to favor the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — an allegation the BJP denies. 

In an India divided by prosperity and poverty, whose dreams come true?

From CNN's Jessie Yeung, Priti Gupta and Esha Mitra

At 7 a.m., Rupali Rao Kilare starts getting ready for the day in the cramped home she shares with five family members.

Though the sun has long risen, some alleys remain pitch dark as she weaves through the slum where she lives in Mumbai’s Goregaon West neighborhood, its narrow walls wedged between tightly packed buildings that block the light.

Kilare, 22, must hurry to beat the crowds at the slum’s communal toilets, before taking a three-wheeled auto-rickshaw to her boss’ home for her cleaning shift.

Just 3 miles (about 5 kilometers) away in Goregaon East, Shreya Verma, 26, stirs awake in her air-conditioned bedroom, pulls back the curtains and takes in the view of greenery and high-rise buildings.

Throwing on a blazer and heels, she hops in an Uber to her marble-floored office at an international tech firm.

Though the two women are separated by only a few years in age and a 20-minute drive, their starkly different lives illustrate India’s deepening wealth divide – and the inequality that has empowered some to reach new heights alongside the country’s fast-growing economy, while others are left behind.

That inequality has come under particular scrutiny during India's election.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been credited with advancing India’s $3.7 trillion economy and bringing the country closer to becoming a global superpower, India remains a largely impoverished nation and its wealth gap is more unequal than it was during British rule.

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