Mission

Over the past few months, I have explored the potential causes, consequences, barriers, and solutions for unsustainable tourism. The tourism sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and plays an important role in the global economy as a source of foreign exchange and employment.¹ In many countries, both developed and developing, tourism is closely associated with the country’s social, economic, and environmental well-being, making it valuable as a tool for development.¹ The current state of the tourism industry is largely unsustainable, however, and has been shown to contribute to both environmental and socio-cultural degradation.²  Sustainable tourism, on the other hand, “takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”³ By supporting sustainable tourism activities that promote environmental and cultural awareness, host communities can improve their social welfare, boost their economies, and work towards achieving sustainable development.¹

The goal of my campaign is to create a resource guide for measuring sustainable tourism development using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ⁴ The 17 SDGs were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a component of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is a plan of action for the peace and prosperity of all people and the planet.⁵ The 17 SDGs are designed to ensure sustainable development globally, while taking into account economic, social, and environmental concerns, making sure every person benefits from development and no one is left behind.⁶ Tourism has the potential to contribute, directly or indirectly, to each of the 17 SDGs, and is explicitly mentioned in targets for 3 of the development goals, including sustainable economic growth, sustainable consumption and production, and the sustainable use of the ocean and marine resources.⁷ For this reason, the 17 SDGS can be used as a framework for measuring sustainable tourism development in host communities based how many of the goals have been achieved as a result tourism.

Audience

In order to achieve sustainable tourism development, there must be informed participation among all stakeholders, involving open and transparent communication.⁷ Relevant stakeholders in the sustainable tourism industry include tourism entities and their employees, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, donors and financial institutions, local residents and business owners, and intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations and World Tourism Organization.

Objective

My objective for this campaign is to inspire stakeholders to take necessary action to make the tourism sector more sustainable by aligning their policies, business models, and investments with the 17 SDGs.⁷ In order to achieve this, I will develop a resource guide which clearly defines what sustainable tourism is and what the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are, providing information on how these goals can be achieved through sustainable tourism. Through making these connections, I will promote the 17 SDGs as a framework for measuring sustainable tourism development.

Resource Guide

Indicators

In order to access the state of sustainable tourism development, host communities will need to monitor the progress that has been made towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in their community. Doing so will help the community to see if tourism is helping them to meet sustainable development objectives or if it is hindering them, causing more environmental, social, and economic harm to the community rather than benefits.

References

1. Sustainable Development Goals Knowledge Platform. (n.d.). Sustainable Tourism. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sustainabletourism#:~:text=The%20World%20Tourism%20Organization%20defines,the%20environment%20and%20host%20communities%22.

2. Corradi, A. (2017). The unsustainability of mass tourism. Brown Political Review. https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2017/11/unsustainability-mass-tourism/#:~:text=Mass%20tourism%20is%20responsible%20for,to%20the%20local%20natural%20environment.

3. The World Tourism Organization (n.d.). Sustainable Development. https://www.unwto.org/sustainable-development

4. United Nations. (n.d.). The 17 Goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goals

5. United Nations. (n.d.). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda

6. Northflash. (2020). How to use the 17 SDGs in Tourism. https://northflash.com/how-to-use-the-17-sdgs-in-tourism/

7. The World Tourism Organization. (n.d.). Tourism in the 2030 Agenda. https://www.unwto.org/tourism-in-2030-agenda

8. The World Tourism Organization. (n.d.). Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals – Journey to 2030. https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284419401

Image References

https://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/en/

https://www.veoliawatertechnologies.com/en/our-commitment-planet-and-our-customers