UN Tourism and Germany pave the way towards inclusive employment and accessibility

• All Regions
• 19 Mar 2025

UN Tourism has joined the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to shift the mind-sets of destinations and businesses regarding workers and customers with disabilities.

Putting inclusive tourism in the spotlight

1.3 billion people live with a significant disability worldwide, with 80% of them living in developing countries and emerging destinations.

When people with disabilities do travel, they are accompanied by 2 to 3 other people. Including accessibility in a business strategy entails new sources of revenue and better economic performance.

Yet despite progress in recent years, discrimination and other barriers still prevent people with disabilities from travelling or working in tourism.  

Many job applicants with disabilities don’t see tourism as a viable career path; Businesses are missing out on immense resources of workforce talent and new clients.

Highlighting solutions for the inclusive employment and better access

UN Tourism and BMZ came together at ITB Berlin 2025 to raise awareness of the wide range of benefits of accessible tourism; They called for a more inclusive sector through international cooperation - to create more jobs, open up travel to more people and build more resilient communities.

A tourism that:

• fosters awareness of the benefits of implementing accessibility, not as a charity - but as a long-term investment;
• engages in social and digital innovation benefitting people and communities; and
• better serves this billion-dollar market of consumers and employees.

The joint event at ITB brought together industry leaders to discuss approaches for creating better workplaces and services in tourism for all, in developed and emerging economies.

A report is also planned to showcase good practices promoted in Berlin; These include examples from Albania, Austria, Ecuador, Germany, India, Jordan and Morocco, as well as international success stories championed by the World Sustainable Hospitably Alliance, Amadeus, European Network for Accessible Tourism and European Disability Forum.

The recommendations, to be also published within the report, will focus on:

1. working with end-users with disabilities to understand their needs;
2. building a business case of accessibility;
3. upskilling employees; and
4. adapting job descriptions and workplace environments so people with disabilities can directly apply to work in hospitality.

Related Links

• Download the news release on PDF
• UN Tourism and Accessible Tourism
• ITB 2025 event: Breaking Barriers Pathway to Inclusive Employment and Accessible Tourism

UN adopts new tourism employment indicator to guide efforts towards the SDGs

• All Regions
• 11 Mar 2025

The United Nations has taken a major step in recognizing tourism’s role in sustainable development by adopting a new tourism employment indicator as part of the official Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Indicator Framework.

Endorsed at the 56th session of the UN Statistical Commission, this landmark decision means that—for the first time—global data on tourism employment will be systematically monitored within the SDG monitoring process. It also increases the number of official tourism SDG indicators from two to three, raising recognition of the sector’s global contribution to economic and social progress.

What gets measured, gets done. As part of Goal 8, we strive for sustainable tourism that creates jobs. The new tourism employment indicator goes beyond GDP to enhance our understanding of tourism’s potential for social progress

UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili says: “What gets measured, gets done. As part of Goal 8, we strive for sustainable tourism that creates jobs. The new tourism employment indicator goes beyond GDP to enhance our understanding of tourism’s potential for social progress. Policymakers will be better equipped to identify gaps, address inequalities, and maximize tourism’s social and economic benefits—ensuring no one is left behind.”

UN Tourism’s most recent survey of Member States’ priorities revealed a strong preference for the Organization to work towards ensuring tourism contributes to the achievement of the SDGs. The new indicator, with UN Tourism as its custodian, delivers the evidence to advance on this priority.

Strengthening tourism’s role in global development

The indicator responds to a critical policy issue in many countries. Together with the existing SDG indicator on tourism’s GDP, the new indicator offers a broader perspective on tourism’s sustainability that better considers social progress.

With this recognition, tourism employment will now be officially integrated into the deliberations of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals Report. The data will be available on the SDG Global Database, as well as on the UN Tourism Statistics Database website.

The indicator was jointly advanced under the leadership of Austria, Spain, Saudi Arabia, CARICOM, ILO and UN Tourism. It is fruit of extensive research and development through consultative and intergovernmental processes over several years. The inclusion of the tourism employment indicator is one of three new indicators endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission as part the second, and last, SDG Indicator Framework review within the 2030 Agenda’s time horizon.

Thanks to a partnership between UN Tourism and ILO, the new indicator leverages on both organization’s data reporting mechanisms, maximizing prior statistical investments at national and international levels, while minimizing reporting burden on countries.

Tourism represents 5,6% of total number of persons employed

Between 2015 and 2023, tourism accounted for 5.6% of global employment. In 2023 alone, 127 million persons were employed in tourism worldwide, based on data reported by 89 countries and comprising 68% of the world population.

Tourism offers employment and income opportunities in developed and developing countries alike, even in remote areas. Tourism plays a particularly crucial role in employment in the ‘Small Island Developing States’ (SIDS), where on average it accounted for 12.9% of the total number of employed persons.

The new indicator, derived from the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism, tracks all persons of working age with paid employment and self-employment. It can be expressed as a share of total employed persons and can be disaggregated by male/female, employee/self-employed, and by the 10 tourism industries. This enables a comprehensive measurement of the number of persons employed in the tourism sector in each country, as well worldwide.

About the UN Statistical Commission

The UN Statistical Commission is the highest body of the global statistical system, bringing together heads of National Statistical Institutes from UN member states as well as international organizations. It sets statistical standards and develops concepts and methods, including their implementation at the national and international level.

Relevant links:

• Download the News Release on PDF
• 56th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission
• UN Tourism Statistics Database
• Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism

“Invest in tourism for peace”: UN Tourism Unites Ministers Around Shared Vision at ITB Berlin

• All Regions
• 5 Mar 2025

UN Tourism has returned to ITB Berlin 2025, placing the need for investments and the sector’s role as a vehicle of peace high on the agenda of the world’s biggest travel trade show.

As it celebrates its 50th year, the United Nations specialized agency is reaffirming its founding vision of tourism for peace and security whilst also looking ahead to a more resilient and inclusive sector underscored by investments and innovation. At Messe Berlin, a UN Tourism Affiliate Member, UN Tourism again served as the bridge between public and private leaders and for the first time hosted a high-level summit featuring Ministers of Tourism from 23 countries.

As we have in Berlin and in many other parts of the world, when people can travel freely and when everyone can benefit from tourism, they are more likely to back peaceful resolutions and work together

Officially opening ITB Berlin 2025, UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “As we have in Berlin and in many other parts of the world, when people can travel freely and when everyone can benefit from tourism, they are more likely to back peaceful resolutions and work together. And peace and security allow us to achieve our vision for the future. Our focus on education, innovation, and investment is ensuring that tourism is not only a driver of economic growth but also a vehicle for empowerment and sustainability.”

Secretary-General Pololikashvili also congratulated His Excellency Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania, for overseeing his country’s remarkable growth as a destination. Albania, the host country of ITB Berlin 2025, was the top-performing country in Europe in 2024 in terms of increase in arrivals since before the start of the pandemic. It also hosted UN Tourism’s Regional Commission for Europe in 2024 and is a leading destination in tourism investments, as highlighted in the newly-updated UN Tourism Investment Guidelines for the country.

Landmark first Ministers Summit focuses on investment and peace

In Berlin, UN Tourism and ITB celebrated a landmark first with a High-Level Ministerial Discussion on “Enhancing Investment, Ensuring Peace: Harnessing Growth, Shaping the Future.” Joining Ministers of Tourism and high-level representatives of 23 countries were Julia Simpson President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), from the UN Tourism’s global Affiliate Members Network, the International Air Transportation Association (IATA), and, the Istanbul Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The leaders focused on the vital need for peace and security to attract investments, on the importance of public-private partnerships, and on good governance to ensure that investments deliver benefits for the sector as well as for host communities, showcasing good practice from destinations worldwide.

During ITB Berlin, the UN Tourism leadership seized the chance to hold high-level meetings with several of its Member States. In Berlin, bilateral meetings were held with Ministers or other top representatives of Armenia, Cambodia Croatia, Indonesia, Poland, Montenegro and Venezuela.

Related links

• Download News Release on PDF
• High-Level Ministerial Discussion: Enhancing Investment, Ensuring Peace: Harnessing Growth, Shaping the Future
• Summit video

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