“Sustainability as the New Normal” a Vision for the Future of Tourism

• All Regions
• 5 Jun 2020

To mark World Environment Day, the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme led by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) announces its new vision for global tourism– growing better, stronger, and balancing the needs of people, planet and prosperity.

The One Planet Vision for the Responsible Recovery of the Tourism Sector builds on the UNWTO Global Guidelines to Restart Tourism, with the aim to emerge stronger and more sustainable from the COVID-19 crisis.

This combined effort comes at a time when several destinations around the world begin to ease restrictions on travel and mobility and the tourism sector is getting ready to resume its activity with the lessons learned from the pandemic.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Sustainability must no longer be a niche part of tourism but must be the new norm for every part of our sector. This is one of the central elements of our Global Guidelines to Restart Tourism. It is in our hands to transform tourism and that emerging from COVID-19 becomes a turning point for sustainability.

Better, more sustainable, and resilient growth

Sustainability must no longer be a niche part of tourism but must be the new norm for every part of our sector

The One Planet Vision calls for responsible recovery for the tourism sector, which is founded on sustainability, to build back better. This will underpin tourism’s resilience to be better prepared for future crises. The Vision will support the development and implementation of recovery plans, which contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to the Paris Agreement.

At a time when governments and the private sector are embarking on the path to recovery, the time is right to keep advancing towards a more economically, social and environmentally sustainable tourism model.

Private sector committed to lead by example

Sabina Fluxà, Vice-Chairman and CEO Iberostar Group , a leading international Hotel and Resort company, stressed that " it is imperative to keep focused on creating a more responsible and fair way to travel”, adding that “Iberostar has responded by integrating sustainability in elevated safety protocols and further committing to our circular economy policies to ensure any new waste is managed properly.”

According to Delphine King, Executive Director of The Long Run, an international community of nature-based tourism businesses, “Our members collectively conserve over 20 million acres of fragile ecosystems, and none of this work has stopped despite the pandemic and tourism’s pause, demonstrating where priorities lie.”

James Thornton, CEO, Intrepid Travel, a leading provider of adventure travel experiences, call for committed actions and underscores that, “We believe climate action is a collective commitment to the sustainability of the entire travel industry, and the world we so love to explore”.

The One Planet Vision for the Responsible Recovery of the Tourism Sector is structured around six lines of action to guide responsible tourism recovery for people, planet and prosperity, namely public health, social inclusion, biodiversity conservation, climate action, circular economy and governance and finance.

For enquiries, please contact Virginia Fernandez-Trapa at UNWTO: vftrapa@unwto.org

About the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme

The One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme aims to enhance the sustainable development impacts of the tourism sector by 2030 by developing, promoting and scaling up sustainable consumption and production practices that boost the efficient use of natural resources, while producing less waste and addressing the challenges of climate change and biodiversity. The One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme is led by UNWTO, with the governments of France and Spain as co-leads and in collaboration with UNEP.

Related Links

• Download the news release
• Download the full document One Planet Vision for a Responsible Recovery
• From Vision to Action - Exemplary Initiatives
• Conservation and community must come first for tourism to recover responsibly
• Responsible Tourism: The Key to Building Back a Better Industry
• Climate action is a collective commitment to the sustainability of our industry
• One Planet COVID-19 Responsible Recovery
• Restarting Tourism

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Tourism and The New Green Deal - Europe can take the lead

• Europe
• 24 Jan 2020

The role of tourism in the new European Green Deal was highlighted at the FITUR trade fair. On the back of the recent launch of the Green Deal, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) invited Ministers of Tourism from across Europe and representatives from the European Parliament and the European Travel Commission (ETC) to Madrid for a high-level conversation on the vital role the tourism sector will play if the ambitious sustainability goals are to be met.

The Green Deal will form an integral part of the Commission’s strategy to implement the UN’s 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals and pledges to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. Recognizing the role that tourism will play in achieving this, UNWTO used the occasion of FITUR to provide a platform for EU and non-EU stakeholders, including representatives from both the public and private sectors. Established at the start of a new five-year period for the European Commission, this platform will advocate for tourism to be a central part of the Green Deal.

The tourism sector has an obligation to use its unique power to lead the response to the climate emergency and ensure responsible growth.

 UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “The tourism sector has an obligation to use its unique power to lead the response to the climate emergency and ensure responsible growth. UNWTO is committed to accelerating progress towards low carbon emission tourism, and I am delighted to see that, in this regard, UNWTO and the European Commission are on the same page.”

The Secretary of State for Tourism of Spain, the country that hosts UNWTO, Isabel Oliver, added: “A more prominent presence in the political structure of the European Union would allow the importance of tourism to be put on the agenda as a lever to achieve the challenges that European policy has identified, including the Green Deal.”

The FITUR event also provided a platform for Croatia, which currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, to present its priorities for tourism. Frano Matusic, Secretary of State for Tourism of Croatia, addressed his fellow Ministers and public and private sector leaders, highlighting his country’s commitment to sustainability and low-carbon growth.

Mr. Matusic, said: “Tourism is a significant economic factor in the world GDP, but at the same time it affects the preservation of cultural heritage, the environment, the labor market, infrastructure, etc. As these challenges are common to all Member States, it is important to address these issues in a systematic manner at the both European and global level. Implementation and promotion of sustainable development policies are the backbone of Croatia's EU Council Presidency in the field of tourism, and Croatia will therefore continue to strengthen its co-operation initiative precisely to ensure tourism's success in the future.”

According to the latest UNWTO data, the EU28 Member States received 577 million international tourists in 2019, a 3% increase on the previous year. In 2018, receipts generated by international tourism generated 407 billion euros across all 28 states, around 33% of the world total. The UNWTO data also shows that Europe continues to be the leading global region for tourist numbers, welcoming 51% of all arrivals in 2019.  

Related Link

• PDF
• UNWTO: In Conversation “The future of sustainable tourism in the framework of the EU Green Deal”

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Tourism’s Carbon Emissions Measured in Landmark Report Launched At COP25

• All Regions
• 4 Dec 2019

Madrid, Spain, 4 December 2019 – Transport-related emissions from tourism are expected to account for 5.3% of all man-made CO2 emissions by 2030, up from 5% in 2016, a landmark new report from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the International Transport Forum (ITF) shows. At the same time, as tourist numbers rise and the sector makes progress in achieving low-carbon travel, emissions per passenger kilometer are expected to decline over the coming decade. Against this backdrop, UNWTO calls for enhanced cooperation between the transport and tourism sectors to effectively transform tourism for climate action.

Launched at an official side-event of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme during the UN Climate Summit, COP25 in Madrid, the “Transport Related CO₂ Emissions of the Tourism Sector” presents the emissions produced by the different modes of tourism transport. As the number of both international and domestic tourists continues to rise, this data is presented alongside the predicted growth in emissions to 2030 and is set against the so called ‘current ambition´ for the decarbonization of transport.

Presenting the report, UNWTO Executive Director Manuel Butler said: “This comprehensive study analyses the environmental impact of the different modes of transport within the tourism sector. It is now for the tourism sector, especially tourism policy makers to use data effectively and ensure the sector plays a leading role in addressing the climate emergency.”

Ovais Sarmad, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) addressed the need to scale efforts towards the implementation of the Paris Agreement: “While tourism is mentioned in many Nationally Determined Contributions as a big concern, not enough has yet been done. Industry must do more, but governments must align their policies, so that at the international level we can collectively work to increase ambition. The One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme is a vital ongoing mechanism to promote sustainable tourism around the world.”

Some of the main conclusions of the research include:

• Against the current ambition scenario, transport-related CO₂ emissions from tourism are predicted to increase from 1,597 million tonnes to 1,998 million tonnes between 2016 and 2030, representing a 25% rise.
• During the same period, international and domestic arrivals are expected to increase from 20 billion to 37 billion, mainly driven by domestic tourism (from 18.8 billion to 35.6 billion), followed by international arrivals (1.2 billion to 1.8 billion).
• Transport-related emissions from tourism represented 5% of all man-made emissions in 2016 and will increase to 5.3% by 2030.
• Tourism related transport emissions represented 22% of all transport emissions in 2016 and will continue doing so in 2030 (21%). 

Moving to a “high ambition scenario”

Tourism’s transport-related CO₂ emissions remain a major challenge and require tourism to work closely with transport in order to support its commitment to accelerate the decarbonazition process and the implementation of a high ambition scenario.

In addition, the tourism sector must determine its own high ambition scenario, complementing the efforts of the transport sector. Here, tourism would advance towards significantly decoupling growth from emissions in order to grow within the international climate targets.

Related Links

• Transforming Tourism for Climate Action
• Transport-related CO2 Emissions of the Tourism Sector Modeling Results
• The UN Climate Change Conference COP 25

Transport Related CO2 Emissions of the Tourism Sector

Report

UNWTO

Collaboration with UN Environment and the governments of France and Spain

Carlos Gentile

Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable de la Argentina

Ms. Virginia Fernández- Trapa

Sustainable Development of Tourism

Ovais Sarmad

Deputy Executive Secretary of UNFCCC

Manuel Butler

Executive Director

UNWTO Event

Sustainable Development of Tourism

COP25 - UNWTO Event

Tourism’s Carbon Emissions Measured

Dirk Glaesser

Sustainable Development of Tourism

Ms. Angélique Pompouneau

CEO Seychelles Climate Adaptation Trust

Climate Change

One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme

Ovais Sarmad

Deputy Executive Secretary of UNFCCC

Transforming tourism for climate action

UNWTO Event

Ms. Angélique Pompouneau

CEO Seychelles Climate Adaptation Trust

Ms. Isabel Oliver

Secretary os State for Tourism Spain

Manuel Butler

Executive Director

Brigitte Collet

French Ambassador for Climate

Transforming tourism for climate action

Official side-event at COP25

Carlos Gentile

Secretario de Cambio Climático y Desarrollo Sustentable. Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable de la Argentina

Transport-related CO2 emissions

COP25

One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme

"Transforming tourism for climate action

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Tourism On The Agenda As UNWTO Welcomes Fellow UN Agencies And World Leaders To Madrid For COP25

• All Regions
• 2 Dec 2019

Madrid, Spain, 2 December 2019 – The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has welcomed its fellow United Nations agencies to Madrid for the start of the COP25 Climate Change Summit. With tourism now high on the United Nations agenda, and with UNWTO the global leader in tourism for development and advocacy, this summit will see the near-limitless potential of the sector discussed at the very highest level and placed at the center of the climate emergency conversation.

Leaders from around the world are set to attend the summit, which will take place from 2-13 December under the Presidency of the Government of Chile. A key objective this year is to advance critical issues relating to the full operationalization of the Paris Agreement. Since the landmark climate change agreement was signed by 197 nations in 2015, tourism has established itself as one of the most important global sectors for realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN Sustainability Agenda.

As the United Nations specialized agency for the promotion of tourism as a driver of the sustainable development agenda, UNWTO participates with a high-level delegation, led by UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili in the summit. UNWTO will also be holding a high-level side event on 3 December. This official side event in the Blue Zone brings back the tourism discussion into the heart of the COP, engaging policy makers whom are committed to the low carbon transformation of the tourism sector.

The official side event will mark the launch of the new UNWTO-ITF report Transport-Related CO2 Emissions in the Tourism Sector, a groundbreaking study that presents the climate implications of the different modes of transport used by the tourism sector and provides the evidence necessary for the global tourism sector to define a high ambition scenario for the years to come.

“UNWTO is proud to lead the efforts of the global tourism sector to deliver on climate response,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili. “Spain is a global tourism leader and Madrid the ideal setting for this. I thank the Government of Chile for organizing this high-level summit and Spain for hosting it. COP25 represents a great opportunity to stress the important role tourism can play in building a better, more sustainable world for all”, he added.

The event will feature high-level speakers, led by the UNWTO Secretary-General and the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa. Also contributing at the event will be the Spanish Secretary of State for Tourism, Ms. Isabel Oliver, Ms. Brigitte Collet, French Ambassador for Climate, Mr. Carlos Gentile, Secretary of State for Climate Change and Sustainable Development of Argentina and Chair of the Board of Directors of the One Planet network and Mr. Wills Agricole, Principal Secretary for Energy and Climate Change of Seychelles.

Relevant links

• One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme "Transforming tourism for climate action" official side-event at COP2
• UN Climate Change Conference, COP25
• Side events and exhibits at COP 25

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EBRD and UNWTO team up to promote inclusive tourism and achieve Sustainable Development Goals

• All Regions
• 4 Oct 2019

• EBRD and United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) join forces to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
• The two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Madrid
• Focus on fostering education in tourism for job creation and socioeconomic inclusion

Madrid, 4 October 2019 - The EBRD and the UNWTO are joining forces to strengthen sustainable and inclusive tourism as a tool for achieving growth and development.

Under an MoU, signed by EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti and UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili at the UNWTO Headquarters in Madrid, the two institutions pledge to work together in promoting and fostering tourism for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The MoU is also aligned with the new property and tourism strategy the EBRD published yesterday.

In particular, the EBRD and UNWTO are looking for ways to strengthen the role of the tourism sector for social, economic and environmental development for regional integration and economic diversification.

Fostering education and training in tourism for job creation and socioeconomic inclusion, by adopting the best practices to increase and improve skillsets in the sector, is a key priority for both the EBRD and UNWTO.

The two institutions will also look to strengthen tourism governance and institutions, promote policy dialogue at national and regional level on matters of common concern, facilitate investments and advocate for the increase of Official Development Aid flows to the tourism sector, including through UNWTO.
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili commented: “Tourism has become a central part of the global sustainable development agenda. Strengthening our partnership with the EBRD will help us drive the sector forward, deliver change in the tourism climate and digital economy and help guide the growth of tourism in a responsible and inclusive manner for the benefit of all. We are happy to be your tourism intelligence and action partner.”

EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti said: “I am very delighted to be working with UNWTO to promote sustainable and inclusive tourism across the EBRD regions. Travel and tourism represent a vitally important and fast-growing sector of the global economy, and can benefit poorer, more remote regions, opening up job opportunities, promoting economic inclusion for all and facilitating the transfer of valuable skills. These are all objectives central to the EBRD’s mission.”

The EBRD and UNWTO are longstanding partners. In 2015, the two institutions signed an agreement in the framework of the EBRD’s commitment for supporting inclusive and sustainable tourism in the economies where the Bank invests, particularly in the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region and the Western Balkans.

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