Sustainable Tourism Initiatives

Sustainable Tourism Initiatives

“The growing significance of the tourism sector for our societies and our economies brings with it extra responsibility. We cannot allow the lifeline of tourism to be cut again. Resilience in the tourism is not just a matter of planning or reacting to crises. It is also about proactively addressing the underlying factors of those crises. Unsustainable consumption is leading to biodiversity loss, climate change and the emergence of pandemics. It's vital that we adopt policies that accelerate transformative change.”
UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili
The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism

The Glasgow Declaration is a catalyst for increased urgency about the need to accelerate climate action in tourism and to secure strong commitments to support the global goals to halve emissions over the next decade and reach Net Zero emissions as soon as possible before 2050.

The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism
Global Tourism Plastics Initiative

The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative unites the tourism sector behind a common vision to address the root causes of plastic pollution. It enables businesses, governments and other tourism stakeholders to lead by example in the shift towards a circular economy of plastics.

Global Tourism Plastics Initiative
Integrating Circular Economy Principles in Tourism

Circularity represents a strategic approach for the tourism sector, notably from the point of view of minimizing its environmental impacts, including waste and pollution as well as CO2 emissions, given the potential of a circular economy to decouple economic growth from resource use.

Integrating Circular Economy Principles in Tourism
Global Roadmap for Food Waste Reduction in the Tourism Sector

Food is a key element of the tourism experience. Food is also a precious resource. The way that food is handled has significant economic, social and environmental impacts, for both for tourism destinations and businesses. Tackling food loss and waste is one of the concrete actions needed to transform agrifood systems for people, planet and prosperity.

Global Roadmap for Food Waste Reduction in the Tourism Sector
Nature Positive Travel and Tourism

At COP15 in Montreal, in December 2022, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), UN Tourism and the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance announced a new collaboration to unite public and private sectors towards a shared nature positive vision for travel and tourism to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

Nature Positive Travel and Tourism
One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme

The One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme is currently guided by the Global Strategy for Sustainable Consumption and Production 2023-2030 which identifies tourism as a key sector to accelerate sustainability across the multiple stages of its value chain.

One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme

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UNGA Sustainable Tourism Resolutions
The Secretariat of the UN Tourism regularly prepares reports for the General Assembly of the United Nations on the implementation of UN resolutions, including recommendations on ways and means to promote sustainable and resilient tourism development.
Travel facilitation
UN Tourism has been monitoring the evolution of visa policies since 1963. Since 2008, data has been collected on a regular basis and consequently validated through surveys and communication with Member States. Regular reports have been published since 2012.
UN Tourism at COP Events

UN Tourism actively engages in COP events to highlight the vital role of sustainable tourism in addressing climate change. Through discussions, partnerships, and innovative solutions, we advocate for a greener, more resilient future for the global tourism sector.