Welcome to the United Nations
Zurab Pololikashvili
Secretary-General
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
Tourism is far more than tourism alone. From infrastructure and communication to food production and transport, tourism’s considerable economic weight gives it the responsibility and the power to play a key role in any framework supporting the sustainable and responsible development of economies and societies, in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Not only has tourism been a sector of consistently above-average growth for eight straight years, with 1.3 billion international tourist arrivals recorded in 2017, but the sector’s cross-cutting nature and wide global reach make it an effective tool to contribute to all of the SDGs that are charting our common action towards 2030.
The SDGs and the commitment behind them, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, serves as the foundation for partnerships that work towards improving livelihoods, the environment and global peace. One such partner is the One Planet network, helping to support partners accelerate the shift to sustainable consumption and production patterns across sectors – outlined in SDG 12 – through a global trust fund.
There is a particular and clear connection between Goal 12 and tourism. If the tourism sector harnesses innovation and strengthens partnerships that are grounded in commitment to positive change, it can decouple its growth from the use of finite natural resources to continue growing sustainably – and thus competitively. Natural resources are at the core of tourism’s competitiveness. This is why Target 12.b of Goal 12 is dedicated to monitoring tourism’s impacts on ensuring sustainable consumption and production.
Accelerate the shift
In line with this target, any new and existing initiatives, partnerships, projects and activities in tourism must meet the needs of the sector – of tourists, service providers and all other sector stakeholders – while using fewer natural resources and/or using them more efficiently.
Their success at this can be measured, and thereby improved, through robust monitoring of tourism impacts including energy and water use efficiency, climate change mitigation, waste management, local sourcing, sustainable land use, biodiversity protection and decent employment.
In promoting the innovative, sustainable solutions and best practices that exist today, we can raise awareness of tourism’s real and positive impacts on the ground and inspire public decision makers and private companies to take action. The One Planet – Sustainable Tourism Programme exists for this purpose. UNWTO leads the programme, the governments of France, Morocco and Republic of Korea are the co-leads, and it is supported by the 10YFP Secretariat at UN Environment.
On 18 July 2018, during the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Tourism Programme joined forces with the One Planet – Sustainable Buildings and Construction Programme to explore innovative circular economy solutions with strong potential to advance Goal 12. This transversal focus, igniting and strengthening partnerships across stakeholders, is important for speeding up progress towards not only Goal 12 but also several other SDGs, including all of those under review at the Forum.
A wide reach
In 2017-2018 the tourism sector moved decisively forward in its collaborative actions to implement Goal 12 on the ground. Countries, destinations and businesses around the world are in many cases doing more to link tourism with Goal 12 than was previously understood. Implementation of sustainable practices in tourism is having a multiplier effect on embedding those practices in other areas.
For many governments tourism is a priority sector for implementation of broader national policies for green growth, sustainable consumption and production, sustainability certification, resource efficiency, waste and emissions reduction, and biodiversity protection.
I urge policy makers to leverage tourism’s potential to advance implementation of Goal 12 and the 2030 Agenda. Where evidence of this potential is not available, I encourage commitment to developing the necessary tools to start measuring.
Empowering destinations to lead the change
The Sustainable Tourism Programme demonstrates the power of enhanced and engaged partnerships. Through combining the expertise, technical capacity and reach of governments, NGOs, international organizations, business and academia, we have overseen activities that have enhanced private sector engagement and awareness of SDG implementation strategies and practices, while better policies are being made using technical expertise and best-practice guidelines in sustainability and tourism ethics.
UNWTO is wholly committed to empowering destinations to develop, adopt, promote, replicate and scale up sustainable consumption and production practices in tourism by 2030. With the support of Switzerland we have launched the Tourism for SDGs Platform online for policy makers, companies and all tourism stakeholders to engage in SDG implementation strategies. The platform’s three main features, Learn, Share and Act, are also calls for action, conversation and collaboration towards a sustainable tourism sector.
With technological advances, circular economy thinking and the right measurement systems, we hope to eventually find ways that tourism can, instead of balancing growth with resource use, actually create resources for other sectors and support the sustainability of humanity and the planet. As we continue down this path we must remember: we are one planet and must travel with care.
