First of all, an opportunity for meeting others. The divine initiative taken then continues to increase its effectiveness today, enabling human beings of every age, and thus our contemporaries as well, to have a personal experience of Christ's presence in their own history. The place where this encounter occurs is first and foremost the celebration of the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. In these sacraments, however, it is the inner life that finds its meaning and direction in the light that shines from faith. In this regard, holidays and journeys can be beneficial times for filling gaps in one's humanity and spirituality.
Tourism is also an occasion for solidarity.
With its call for inner conversion and reconciliation with our brethren, the Jubilee invites believers and people of good will to establish a social order based on mercy, justice and peace. It spurs us to be aware of the responsibilities we all have towards nature and towards the situations of poverty and exploitation which affect so many people and numerous countries of the world. The over 600 million people who annually move from one nation to another could make tourism a primary factor in building a world open to the cooperation of all, through mutual knowledge and direct contact with different realities. I ardently hope that the World Day of Tourism in this Jubilee Year will help tour leaders and operators, believers and people of good will, individuals and communities, to become aware of the challenges and possibilities offered by such a vast number of people on the move. To all who work in this sector, I express my appreciation of their contribution to the good use of free time and to the fostering of friendly relations between individuals and peoples.