Tourism

Towards more responsible tourism.

Tourism is the world’s largest industry and studies predict its increasing growth.

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) estimates that between 1950 and 2001, the number of international arrivals has grown from 25 million to 689 million, corresponding toan average annual growth rate of 7%. Receipts from international tourism (excluding international fare receipts) reached US$ 476 billion in 2000, an increase of 4.5% over the previous year. Worldwide, the average receipt per arrival amounted to US$680. In addition, domestic tourism is of major importance in many countries.

Photo:© Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Earth from above/UNESCO

Tourism is thus an important factor in the economy of many countries and in the management of many cultural sites and natural areas. Being a people-oriented industry, tourism also provides many jobs which have helped revitalize local economies. Yet by its very nature tourism is ambivalent, generating well-known problems as well as well-known benefits.

Within UNESCO, several initiatives seek to promote a new tourism culture,based on common sense and the responsible use of the environmental resources and cultural assets of each destination. As described in UNESCO’s contribution to the recent World Ecotourism Summit (Quebec City, Canada, 19-22 May 2002)activities include intellectual contributions, the promotion of ethical principles and the concrete testing of approaches to sustainable tourism at the field level. The role includes both normative and standard-setting functions. The work also entails co-operation and partnerships with a wide range of other bodies.

Recent boosts to this work have come from the adoption by the UNESCO General Conference in 2001 of the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, and UNESCO’s role as lead agency for the United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage (2002).With tourism representing both an opportunity and a threat to culture, UNESCO’s work on cultural tourism seeks to help its Member States in devising strategies for the long-term preservation of the cultural heritage. Another important component of tourism is the oral and intangible heritage, including music, languages, oral traditions and the performing arts.

At the field level, promoting improved tourism practices is a concern at many World Heritage sites and biosphere reserves. Tourism in coastal regions features in a web-based forum on wise coastal practices and in the recently available UN Atlas of the Oceans. Teacher-education materials include a sustainable tourism module in a multi-media programme “Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future”.

Collaboration with other bodies includes participation in the Tour Operators Initiative for Sustainable Development and promoting the testing of the UNEP-CBD Draft International Guidelines on Sustainable Tourism. Several international NGOs associated with UNESCO also carry out projects linked to tourism in particular regions and settings.