Committee on Tourism and Sustainability (CTS)
The Committee on Tourism and Sustainability (CTS) was established, with the aim of replacing the former Sustainable Development of Tourism Committee (SDTC), at the 95th session of the Executive Council (Belgrade, Serbia, May 2013) (CE/DEC/7(XCV). Its Rules of Procedure (CE/96/2(i)) were approved by the Council at its 96th session (Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, August 2013) (CE/DEC/9(XCVI).
Objective
The Committee is a subsidiary, technical body of the Executive Council. Its principal role is to monitor the implementation of the programme of work under "Sustainable Development of Tourism", assist the Secretariat in said implementation, and report and make recommendations to the Executive Council as well as other bodies of the Organization as required.
Members of the CTS
Chair (2023-2027): Costa Rica
Vice-Chair (2023-2027): Croatia
State Members (2023-2027): Costa Rica, Croatia, Egypt, Fiji, Kenya, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Uruguay, Zimbabwe
Representative of the Associate Members (2021-2025): Flanders
Representative of the Affiliate Members (2022-2025): Chair of the Affiliate Members Board: Asociación Empresarial Hotelera de Madrid (AEHM), Spain
Meetings
The meetings of the committee are usually convened by teleconference. However, in-person meetings are regularly conducted on the occasion of UNWTO´s General Assembly as well as public meetings with invited experts.
19th Meeting of the CTS, San José, 9-10 September 2024
UN Tourism's Committee on Tourism and Sustainability meets in San José, Costa Rica.
Chaired by Costa Rica's Minister of Tourism, Mr. William Rodriguez Lopez, the meeting brought together members from Costa Rica, Croatia, Fiji, Portugal, Uruguay, Zimbabwe and representatives from El Salvador, Honduras and Iceland, as well as 140 leading policymakers and experts.
Over two days, the Committee held in-depth discussions on key issues such as tourism development, the future of tourism, climate action, net positive tourism, certification and the Green Claims Directive, among many others.
18th Meeting of the CTS, Madrid, 23 January 2024
This marked the inaugural meeting for the newly elected members for the 2023-2027 term, underscoring the UN Tourism’s commitment to steering sustainable and resilient tourism development. Eight out of the nine elected CTS members were present, including Kenya and Zimbabwe from the African region, alongside representatives from Associate and Affiliate Members. All candidates for the position of Chair and
Vice-Chair presented their visions and strategies to the Committee. Following these presentations, the Committee elected Costa Rica as the Chair and Croatia as the Vice-Chair for the new term.
17th Meeting of the CTS, Samarkand, 17 October 2023
The Committee on Tourism and Sustainability (CTS) convened for its Seventeenth meeting in Samarkand on 17 October 2023, on the occasion of the 25th General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization.
Seven of the nine CTS members for the 2019-2023 term participated in the meeting.
The priorities that were discussed in the CTS meeting were the Nature Positive Tourism Partnership, the UNWTO report on biodiversity in national tourism policies, the UNWTO’s role and activities as lead of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme, Reports on travel facilitation and travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, UNGA Sustainable Tourism Resolutions and the role of the International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories.
16th Meeting of the CTS, Sharm El-Sheikh, 10 November 2022
The committee on Tourism and Sustainability (CTS) met and convened its 16th meeting in Sharm El-Sheik, on 10 November 2022, hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, within the framework of the COP27 under the presidency of Egypt.
The in-person meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Croatia, and also counted on the participation of the Vice Chair from Angola and the host, Egypt and took place for the first time within the framework of a United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP).
This allowed Member States to discuss the guidance materials available, such as the Baseline Report on Climate Action in Tourism and the Technical Brief on Measuring Tourism GHG Emissions, as well as opportunities for collaboration within the framework of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme where UNWTO works closely with UNEP and the governments of France and Spain as co-leads.
15th Meeting of the CTS, Madrid, 30 November 2021
The 15th meeting of the CTS took place on the occasion of the 24th General Assembly of the UNWTO in Madrid. The meeting’s agenda focused on the updating of the Secretariat’s recent work on Climate Action, the report on sustainable tourism and sustainable tourism in Central America prepared for the General Assembly of the United Nations, improving the measurement of sustainable tourism development at destinations level through the INSTO network, initiatives of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme, and COVID-19 related work, including the UNWTO's reports on COVID-19 related travel restrictions.
The in-person meeting, held under the Chairmanship of Egypt, counted on the participation of representatives from Algeria, Angola, Bhutan, Croatia, Egypt, El Salvador, Philippines, Serbia and Flanders.
A handover for the second mandate (2021-2023) for the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship of the Committee took place as follows:
- Incoming Chair: Croatia
- Incoming Vice-Chair: Angola
The Members of the Committee thank the outgoing Chair, Egypt and the outgoing Vice-Chair, Serbia, for the services during the period 2020-2021.
Discussions of the next in-person meeting of the CTS also took place. As COVID-19 prevented Egypt to host the 14th CTS Meeting, it was agreed that the place of the next in-person meeting of the CTS be kept in Egypt in 2022. Furthermore, as Chair of the second mandate, Croatia accepted to host the subsequent in-person meeting in 2023. Place and date to be decided in coordination with the Secretariat.
14th Meeting of the CTS, Virtual, 7 July 2020
The 14th meeting of the CTS which took place virtually on the 7th of July 2020 was dedicated exclusively to the report that the Secretariat is preparing in response to the new request made to UNWTO by the United Nations General Assembly, to collaborate with the Secretary-General on the submission of a report to the seventy-fifth session of the UNGA, on the implementation of the UN GA Resolution 73/245, Promotion of sustainable tourism, including ecotourism, for poverty eradication and environment protection including recommendations on ways and means to promote sustainable tourism, including ecotourism, as a tool for fighting poverty and promoting sustainable development in its three dimensions - economic, social and environmental - in a balanced and integrated manner
The meeting, held under the Chairmanship of Jordan counted with the participation of representatives from Algeria, Angola, Bhutan, Croatia, Jordan, Philippines, Serbia and Flanders, focussed on discussing the draft report prepared by the Secretariat and provided CTS Members’ regional views to further include them in the final version of the report.
Furthermore, the Committee Members decided to engage through their respective Country Missions in New York in the development and sponsorship of the subsequent UNGA resolution to be formulated later this autumn.
13th Meeting of the Committee on Tourism and Sustainability (CTS), FITUR, 23 January 2020, Madrid (Spain)
The thirteenth meeting of the CTS was held on 23 January 2020, in Madrid (Spain), within the framework of the FITUR International Tourism Fair. Eight of the nine States members of the Committee participated in the meeting, namely: Algeria, Angola, Bhutan, Croatia, Egypt, Honduras, Philippines, Serbia and Flanders as representative of the UNWTO Associate Members.
The CTS members unanimously accepted the proposed candidatures for the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship of the Committee, as follows:
- Chair: Egypt and Croatia
- Vice-Chair: Serbia and Angola
It was decided by the CTS members that in the first mandate (2019-2021), Egypt and Serbia will act as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively (2019-2021) until the 24th session of the UNWTO General Assembly in 2021. Consequently, in the second mandate (2021-2023), Croatia and Angola will act as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively, as from the 24th session of the General Assembly until its 25th session in 2023.
The Secretariat outlined the preparations underway for the preparation of the report on “Promotion of sustainable tourism, including ecotourism, for poverty eradication and environment protection” based on the UNGA Resolution 73/245, including the expected timings for the survey and submission of the report and encouraged the Member States to use this opportunity to address issues of relevance for the tourism sector in this important document.
Based on the proposal of the CTS Members, Egypt kindly accepted to host the next in person meeting in Egypt at a place and date to be decided in coordination with the Secretariat.
12th Meeting of the CTS, Saint Petersburg – Russian Federation, 10 September 2019
The 12th meeting of the CTS took place on the occasion of UNWTO’s 23rd General Assembly. The meeting’s agenda included updates on the Secretariat’s work on the Baseline Report on the integration of sustainable consumption and production into tourism policies and the implementation of sustainable tourism policies through the International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) of UNWTO. In addition, the Secretariat shared the results of the UNWTO/International Transport Forum (ITF) research on the transportation related CO2 emissions of the tourism sector as well as UNWTO’s role in CBD’s Informal Advisory Group on Mainstreaming Biodiversity Contribution.
12th Meeting of the CTS, Saint Petersburg – List of Participants
11th Meeting of the CTS, Public Meeting, FITUR Madrid - Spain, 17 January 2018
The 11th CTS public meeting, which took place in the framework of the FITUR, focused on the follow-up and way forward on the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development celebrated in 2017, discussed the preparation process towards the 2018 High-level political forum on sustainable development, addressed the integration of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) into national tourism policies and reviewed the key milestones of the report on the Promotion of sustainable tourism, including ecotourism, for poverty eradication and environment protection to be submitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations at its 72nd meeting in accordance with Assembly resolution 67/223. It counted with the participation of representatives from China, Colombia, Lithuania, Mexico and SEGITTUR (Spain), as members of the CTS and invited experts.
10th Meeting of the CTS, Chengdu - China, 11 September 2017
The 10th meeting of the CTS took place on the occasion of UNWTO´s General Assembly. The meeting´s agenda included updates on the Secretariat´s work related to the celebrations of the International Year on Sustainable Tourism for Development, the research on Integrating Sustainable Consumption and Production into Tourism Policy, the 10YFP Sustainable Tourism Programme, the UNWTO International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories, the UNGA report on Sustainable Tourism and Sustainable Development in Central America, the High Level Task Force on Tourism and Security and the upcoming 2017 Global INSTO meeting.
8th Meeting of the CTS, Public Meeting, FITUR Madrid - Spain, 18 January 2017
The 8th CTS meeting which took place on the occasion of the Official Opening of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development in the framework of FITUR used the format of a public meeting to show cast the consultative process and discussed both elements of strategic importance to sustainable development, planning and measurement. It counted with the participation of representatives from China, Colombia, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, IYHF and SEGITTUR (Spain), as members of the CTS and invited experts.
5th Meeting of the CTS, Medellin - Colombia, 13 September 2015
The 5th meeting of the CTS was held in the framework of the 21st session of the UNWTO General Assembly. During the meeting the new elected members of the CTS for the period 2015-2019 were introduced to the committee.