UN Tourism Finds Travel Spending Growing Faster Than Arrivals

UN Tourism has found that global tourism is set to recover by the end of the year. Destinations are exceeding 2019 numbers, and the global tourism sector has recovered 98% of pre-pandemic levels.

Read the full release by UN Tourism for full details.

Call for Tourism Companies - ESG Framework for Tourism Businesses

UN Tourism and the University of Oxford are inviting tourism businesses to join a collaborative project on sustainable tourism and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting.

Tourism businesses will have the opportunity to help create a standardized framework for ESG reporting by participating in brief interviews, surveys, focus group discussions, and field visits carried out between June and August 2024 by a team of experts from UN Tourism and the University of Oxford.

Interested businesses can read more about the ESG Framework or sign up to participate.

United Nations Sustainable Tourism Observatory Global Meeting

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Mike and Eve are in the top, middle of the INSTO group.

TOTA Destination Stewardship team members, Mike Overend and Eve Layman, joined 43 tourism observatories on November 21-22 at the UN World Tourism Organization headquarters in Madrid, Spain for the annual International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) meeting.

Following the meetings, they joined numerous observatories for additional engagements in Malaga, Spain.

Eve and Mike presented in Madrid and Malaga on TOTA's work regarding resident sentiment and engagement with residents and industry through strategic planning.

The four days were filled with learning from observatories from Europe, South America, Australia, and Asia about their sustainable actions related to specific issue areas.

Highlights included discussions around:

• Tourism Governance

• Resident Sentiment

• Net Positive Tourism

• Data collection methods

In addition, four new observatories were introduced during the meetings.

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About INSTO

TOTA became the first Canadian destination to join INSTO in October 2019.

Learn more about TOTA’s work as a sustainable tourism observatory at TOTABC.org/committed/insto.

UNWTO Awake Tourism Challenge & Startup Support Program to Accelerate Sustainability

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has launched the Awake Tourism Challenge, a competition and program to find and support innovative startups working to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Eligibility:

Startups from all walks of life, from all over the world and all economic sectors are invited to participate.

Participating startups will be assessed according to their:

• Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals

• Ease of value capture via collaboration with the startup

• Potential business impact

• Maturity of the product/technology

• Maturity of the team and the organization

• Partnership readiness

Categories:

1. Local community involvement.

2. Green and blue economies.

3. Ecological and Sustainable Capital Creation.

4. Tourism Tech for Good.

5. Tourism Education.

6. Women Empowerment.

Benefits:

Benefits for winning startups include but are not limited to:

1. Pitch at a UNWTO Demo Day.

2. Curated mentorship programme including one-on-one and in-group sessions focused on Intellectual Property (IP), sustainability, business and leadership.

3. Connection to the UNWTO Innovation Network for meeting public and private stakeholders to explore funding and piloting opportunities.

4. Potential matchmaking with partners to scale up the startups, including investors, corporations and governments.

5. Potential seed funding.

Deadline to submit your application: October 15, 2022

Apply →

Learn More →

UNWTO Gender-inclusive Strategy for Tourism Businesses

The UNWTO released a business case for advancing gender equality, called the "Gender Inclusive Strategy for Tourism Businesses," which contains tools to support private sector tourism enterprises of all types and sizes achieve effective and consistent strategies and programmes for gender equality across their operations.

Download e-Book →

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New UNWTO Guidelines Put Women's Empowerment at Heart of Tourism's Restart

A new set of guidelines will help both governments and businesses better address the needs of women in the tourism sector.

The guidelines published by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) were developed with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development (BMZ), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and UN Women.

The guidelines aim to ensure an inclusive and resilient recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. The guidelines recognize that, given the disproportionate loss of employment suffered by women, as well as the high proportion of women workers within tourism and their concentration in lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs, plans for the sector’s restart and recovery must address their specific needs.

View Guidelines for Tourism Businesses →

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UNWTO records modest tourism increase in 2021

Global tourism experienced a four per cent upturn in 2021 when compared to the prior year, with a total of 415 million international trips made.

However, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) were still 72 per cent below the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to preliminary estimates by UNWTO.

This follows on from 2020, the worst year on record for tourism, when international arrivals decreased by 73 per cent.

Europe and the Americas recorded the strongest results in 2021 compared to 2020 (up by 19 and 17 per cent respectively), but still both 63 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.

Read Summary →

Purchase UNWTO World Tourism Barometer Report →

World Tourism Day | September 27-28, 2021

World Tourism Day, celebrated each year on 27 September, is the global observance day fostering awareness of tourism’s social, cultural, political, and economic value and the contribution that the sector can make towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.

World Tourism Day has been held on 27 September each year since 1980. The date marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Statutes of the Organization in 1970, paving the way for the establishment of UNWTO five years later.

World Tourism Day | United Nations World Tourism Organization

World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has designated World Tourism Day 2021 as a day to focus on “Tourism for Inclusive Growth.” This is an opportunity to look beyond tourism statistics and acknowledge that, behind every number, there is a person.

UNWTO invites its Member States, as well as non-members, sister UN agencies, businesses and individuals to celebrate tourism’s unique ability to ensure that nobody is left behind as the world begins to open up again and look to the future.

The restart of tourism will help kickstart recovery and growth. It is essential that the benefits this will bring are enjoyed widely and fairly.

The human desire to travel and explore is universal, which is why tourism must be open for everyone to enjoy.

CREST is partnering with Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency to host the fifth annual World Tourism Day Forum. This pay-what-you-can virtual event will focus on helping key sectors bridge the disconnect between the goals they are warned must be met when it comes to mitigating the climate crisis and the action steps they need to take.

This event aims to help you take positive directional action, no matter where you are in your climate journey. Hear from Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency, which is pioneering climate action plans for accommodations, tour operators, and destinations, and from industry leaders who are taking inspiring climate action in the tourism sector.

Did you know?

Tourism employs one in every ten people on Earth. Because of the pandemic, 100-120 million direct tourism jobs are at risk.

The asymmetric roll-out of vaccines magnifies the economic blow tourism has suffered in developing countries, as they could account for up to 60% of the global GDP losses.

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First International Standard on Accessible Tourism For All

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published the world’s first standard on accessible tourism, ISO 21902 Tourism and related services – Accessible tourism for all – Requirements and recommendations. This is an international standard offering guidelines to ensure access and enjoyment of tourism for all on an equal basis.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Fundación ONCE and UNE (Asociación Española de Normalización)  led the development of this pioneering, cross-cutting standard on an international level, focusing on accessible tourism throughout the whole value chain of the tourism sector.

This is a business that in the European Union represents a potential market of 80 million persons, or 130 million if companions are included. Moreover, the market is growing considering the population pyramid in many European countries, and this is also the case for other parts of the world.

As from today, this standard is available in Spanish as UNE-ISO 21902,  having been translated and included in the UNE national catalogue of standards. It addresses service providers and tourism operators as well as public administrations and tourism destinations.

The UNE-ISO 21902 standard establishes requirements and recommendations for accessible tourism. For example, in order for a beach to be considered accessible, it must offer showers, toilets and a route that can be used by all. Also, accessible pedestrian routes in a natural environment must provide, amongst other requirements, a continuous, firm and stable floor and signalling and must offer details on the itinerary before the start of the route. In general, in their written communications, tourism establishments must use clear and simple language following a logical sequence, with images and graphic symbols where appropriate, and with contrasting colours and easy-to-read fonts.

It is hoped that the standard will become a key tool for enforcing the right of everyone to enjoy tourism and leisure. In spite of advances over recent decades, in many countries there is still much to be done before the tourism sector takes into account the needs of the more than 1 billion persons with disabilities in the world.

Because of the way in which environments, infrastructure and a wide range of tourism services have been conceived, tourists with disabilities often face challenges starting from the actual planning of their trip and including their experience in the destination. This standard aims to trigger change.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, UNWTO, Fundación ONCE and UNE, together with experts, will hold an awareness campaign addressing their members and associates to stress the harmonization of accessible tourism on a global scale by means of standards.

This worldwide standard was developed by the International Standardization Committee ISO/TC 228 on Tourism and related services, in which UNWTO coordinated working group WG14 bringing together 85 experts from more than 35 countries and five relevant organizations in this area who were responsible for the drafting. Fundación ONCE held the technical leadership and UNE provided the secretariat and coordinated with ISO.

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.

The 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. Among the signatories are organizations such as Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, TUI Group, Palladium Hotel Group, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, Hostelling International,  and Visit Valencia.

These new additions bring the total number of signatories up to 93 companies and organizations. These include organizations from stages of the tourism value chain, including accommodation providers, tour operators, online platforms, suppliers, waste managers and supporting organizations.

Addressing plastic pollution is essential to sustainably restart tourism, preserve destinations and contribute to climate action

To mark the confirmation of the new signatories, UNWTO and the United Nations Environment Programme, in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, held a special  panel discussion with the theme Eliminate. Innovate. Circulate. Strategies from the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative.

Alongside this, a keynote presentation on “A Life Cycle Approach – Key messages for tourism businesses” further highlighted the aims of the GTPI, with a special focus on innovation and the importance of context-based approaches to ensure plastics are circulated back into the economy rather than thrown away after use.

Thompson Okanagan Invited to Join the UNWTO as International Observatory

MEDIA RELEASE
October 30, 2019
For Immediate Release

The Thompson Okanagan Region is the first Canadian destination to join the World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO), joining 27 committed partners across 5 continents.

TOTA President & CEO, Glenn Mandziuk, with UNWTO Director - Sustainable Development of Tourism, Dirk Glaesser, and UNWTO Coordinator - Member Relations, Beka Jakeli

The network was established 15 years ago to “support destination stakeholders to take focused and coherent action to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption patterns, thus turning the goals proposed by the international community into reality.”

Through a lengthy application process, destinations are required to meet the criteria outlined in the INSTO framework and commit to the ongoing monitoring and reporting of 9 core issue areas including Tourism Seasonality, Employment, Local Satisfaction, and Energy Management.

The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Observatory was recognized last week at the UNWTO Global INSTO Meeting in Madrid, Spain, and is the first Canadian destination to join the network.

“We warmly welcome the new sustainable tourism observatory of Thomson Okanagan, which has demonstrated already at this early stage its strong commitment to advance sustainability based on evidence and participatory processes, key elements of successful sustainability strategies,” said Dirk Glaesser, the UNWTO’s Director, Sustainable Development of Tourism.

Glenn Mandziuk, President & CEO of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association spoke to the recognition: “We are honoured to be selected as Canada’s first destination to join a network of leading organizations from around the world as part of the UNWTO‘s INSTO program that will help us share, measure, and understand the economic, social and cultural implications of tourism. We believe this important announcement continues to showcase our Region’s strong commitment to developing tourism in a responsible and sustainable manner.”

Lisa Beare, British Columbia Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, added: “This international recognition of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association showcases years of innovative work towards sustainable tourism management. Our vision for tourism in British Columbia is one of responsible growth, where the benefits of tourism are shared with everyone. Successful tourism practices have evolved beyond focusing solely on economic returns, and today also consider the social, cultural and environmental impacts as well. Congratulations to everyone involved in achieving this designation in the Thompson Okanagan and thank you for your leadership.”

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About the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association

The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) is a non-profit society, governed by an elected Board of Directors, which represents business and community tourism interests throughout the region, and is supported by and representative of Destination British Columbia. It is an industry-led organization that represents and supports all business and community tourism interests in the region, while also helping to implement provincial tourism policies. For more information, visit totabc.org.

About the UNWTO International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories

The UNWTO International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) was created in 2004 with the main objective to support the continuous improvement of sustainability and resilience in the tourism sector through systematic, timely and regular monitoring of tourism performance and impact and to connect dedicated destinations in order to better understand destination-wide resource use and foster the responsible management of tourism.

Through the systematic application of monitoring, evaluation and information management techniques, the initiative provides policy makers, planners, tourism managers and other relevant stakeholders with key tools to strengthen institutional capacities to support the formulation and implementation of sustainable tourism policies, strategies, plans and management processes. Visit insto.unwto.org for more information.

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Media Contacts:
Glenn Mandziuk
President and CEO
Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association
ceo@totabc.com

Ellen-Walker Matthews
Vice-President Destination Development
Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association
industry@totabc.com
(236) 361-4433