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UNESCO Implementing Mauritius Strategy |
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| UNESCO at Mauritius '05 | |
| From Barbados'94 to Mauritius'05 | |
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| | Archive - Tourism Resources |
Tourism is the world’s largest industry and studies predict its increasing growth. As the largest business sector in the world economy, tourism employs 200 million people, generates $3.6 trillion in economic activity and accounts for one in every 12 jobs worldwide.
The World Tourism Organization (WTO) estimates that between 1950 and 2002, the number of international tourist arrivals has grown from 25 million to 715 million, corresponding to an average annual growth rate of 7%. In spite of the impact of terrorist attacks, the number of international tourist arrivals in 2002 exceeded the 700 million mark, for the first time in history. Receipts from international tourism (excluding international fare receipts) reached US$476 billion in 2000, an increase of 4.5% over the previous year. World-wide, the average receipt per arrival amounted to US$680. In addition, domestic tourism is of major importance in many countries.
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.
For a number of small island economies, tourism represents an important part of annual revenue. To take one example, Antigua and Barbuda’s development strategy has focused on tourism since the 1960s and pursued vigorously since independence in 1981. Tourism arrivals were about 100,000 in 1983 and have stabilized at just above 200,000 in 2000. The direct contribution of the tourism sector to the Antiguan economy is estimated at 26% of GDP in 2000, and the indirect contribution 80%. Over 15% of the active population was directly employed in the tourism sector in 2000 and over 40% indirectly employed. In short, a development strategy based on tourism has helped Antigua and Barbuda achieve high rates of growth and a relatively high human development index (52 out of 173 countries in the UNDP 2002 assessment).
Based on this experience, tourism seems an attractive option for many small island states, even though it may be accompanied by many problems and difficulties, such as conflicting demands on limited resources (e.g. fresh water, beach access), issues related to energy supply and waste disposal, and so on).
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 World Ecotourism Summit (Quebec City, Canada, 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 cooperation 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. The World Heritage Centre is engaged in a number of tourism-related activities, including the effects of tourism development projects on the inscribed values of individual sites (such as the impact of tourism on the wildlife of the Galápagos Islands) and the preparation of a practical manual on managing tourism at World Heritage sites. Testing improved approaches to tourism development is an aspect of promoting ‘quality economies’ at a number of biosphere reserves, with a sampling of examples featured in a booklet prepared for the World Ecotourism Summit.
Tourism is a recurrent concern in assessments of indicators – environmental, socio-economic and governance – for integrated coastal management, as part of the programme of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission on Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM).
Tourism in coastal regions also features in a web-based forum on wise coastal practices, with contributors addressing such issues as the ‘self-destruct theory of tourism’, the social effects of tourism, viewing tourism as a cultural experience, conservation and tourism, and mass market versus up-scale tourism. Direct linkages can be accessed through Features, right.
Exchanges of experience and opinion within the Small Islands Voice initiative have addressed several aspects of tourism development in small island settings, including qualitative differences between local and foreign investments in tourism infrastructures.
Collaboration with other bodies includes participation in the Tour Operators Initiative for Sustainable Tourism 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. An example is the International Scientific Council for Island Development (INSULA), whose work includes support to field projects, conferences and publications on various dimensions of sustainable tourism in small island settings. Another example is a study on the effects on tourism on biodiversity in coastal and island regions, being carried out by ICSU's Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and its project on Environment in a Global Information Society (EGIS). |
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Projects
 | Community Ecotourism Toolkit for Pacific Islanders |
| Prepared within the Biodiversity Conservation Programme of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), comprises five main parts: Conservation area ecotourism case studies; Guide to ecotourism development; Resources; Resource/photo CD; Ecotourism bibliography. Launched in July 2002. >> More
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| Intangible Heritage |
| An increasingly important component of tourism is the oral and intangible heritage, including music, languages, oral traditions and the performing arts. UNESCO’s actions to promote cultural diversity, plurilinguism and tolerance all serve to lessen the risk of standardization of culture, and provide a basis for the proposed development of a convention to protect this form of heritage. >> More
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| Tour Operators’ Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development |
| Joint initiative of UNEP, UNESCO and WTO and tour operators. Aim is to create synergy between tour operators who share a common goal to develop and implement tools and practices that improve the environmental, social and cultural sustainability of tourism. Launched in March 2000, the initiative highlights the benefits of sustainable tourism for tour operators and the tourism industry, and promotes practical actions for the implementation of sustainable tourism development. >> More
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Events
| Climate Change and Tourism
(Djerba, Tunisia 09-04-2003 - 11-04-2003)
International conference on the impacts of climate change at tourism destinations and adaptation to the changing conditions. Organized by the World Tourism Organization. More |
| RES for Islands, Tourism and Water Desalination
(Crete, Greece 26-05-2003 - 28-05-2003)
International conference on successful applications of renewable energy sources (RES) in small islands, with particular emphasis on the tourism sector and desalination. More |
Websites
| Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST)
Enhancing the quality of the region's hotel and tourism operators by offering education and training on sustainable tourism, including the promotion of inititiatives for more efficient energy, water, and solid waste management.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| CSI Web-based Forum on Wise Coastal Practices
Tourism is one of the topics addressed in a web-based forum operated by the platform on Environment and Development in Coastal Regions and Small Islands (CSI). One compilation of experiences on tourism posted on the web forum presents case studies from Finland, Jamaica, Philippines, Tanzania and the islands of the West Indian Ocean.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| Cultural Tourism
UNESCO’s endeavours are aimed essentially at helping Member States to devise cultural tourism policies which can sustain cultural pluralism and preserve cultural diversity as well as the authenticity of the living and monumental heritage. Such policies are also aimed at encouraging greater awareness of cultures, combating cultural prejudice and contributing to development and the fight against poverty.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
Founded in 1965, ICOMOS provides the World Heritage Commitee with evaluations of cultural properties proposed for inscription on the World Heritage List, as well as with comparative studies, technical assistance and reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties. In 1999, the ICOMOS General Assembly adopted the International Cultural Tourism Charter.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| International Network on the Sustainable Development of Coastal Tourism
Initiative of the Sustainable Development Section of the World Tourism Organization with the technical and scientific collaboration of the National Distance Education University of Spain.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| Ocean Portal
‘Tourism’ addressed in over 7,000 documents accessible through the OceanPortal directory of ocean data and information related web sites (contains more than 4,000 URLs).
>> More info >> Go to website
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| Small Islands Voice (SIV)
Tourism features in several postings from islands in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific regions taking part in this inter-regional initiative focusing on small islands -- both small island developing states, and islands with other affiliations. Launched in 2002, SIV’s long-term vision is that the voice of the general public in small islands is heard loud and clear and that this voice becomes a driving force for island development.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| Small Islands Voice (SIV) Youth Forum
Among the tourism-related issues to be discussed on the SIV Youth Forum are ecotourism, private and public beaches, the importance of tourism to islands and the economic-dependence of islands on tourism.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO)
Regional inter-governmental organization set-up by 13 countries in the mid-1980s for the joint promotion of the region as a tourist destination. Website contains extensive accommodation and activities listings.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| Sustainable Tourism Module in ‘Teaching and Learning for Sustainable Future’
One of 25 modules in a multimedia teacher education programme published by UNESCO in 2002 as a contribution to the World Summit on Sustainable Development. This module explores the characteristics and objectives of sustainable tourism through a series of case studies.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| UN Atlas of the Oceans
‘Recreation and tourism’ is one of the categories of use in the Internet portal on the oceans -- an information system designed for use by policy makers who need to become familiar with ocean issues and by scientists, students and resource managers who need access to underlying data bases and approaches to sustainability.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| United Nations Environment Programme: Tourism
UNEP has been appointed by the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) as the Interagency Coordinator or lead agency responsible for implementation of Agenda 21 issues on tourism. Together with the World Tourism Organization, UNEP is the main focal point on sustainable tourism for CSD and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
>> More info >> Go to website
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| WTO World Tourism Barometer
Launched in June 2003, thrice-yearly activity of the World Tourism Organization aimed at monitoring the short-term evolution of tourism and providing the sector with adequate and timely information. Comprises three permanent elements: an overview of short-term tourism data from destination countries and air transport, the WTO Panel of Tourism Experts with a retrospective and prospective evaluation of tourism performance, and selected economic data.
>> More info >> Go to website
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Documents
| Coastal Tourism in the Wider Caribbean Region: Impacts and Best Management Practices (1997) - by
UNEP-Caribbean Environmental Programme report summarizing the nature and causes of coastal resources degradation, the contribution of the tourist industry to that degradation, the role of system planning in addressing such impacts, and the possible best management practices which can be employed by industry participants to reduce the impacts of tourism on coastal and marine resources. These best management practices include both planning and operational aspects of tourism facilities.More |
| Small Islands Voice: Laying the Foundation - by
Assessment of initial activities carried out in 2002 within the Small Islands Voice initiative, and proposals for 2003. Based on inter-regional workshop held in Palau in November 2002.More |
| Managing Tourism at World Heritage Sites: A Practical Manual for World Heritage Site Managers - by Arthur Pedersen
First in a series of ‘how to’ World Heritage manuals, addresses such issues as the implications of the tourism industry for World Heritage site mangers, tourism impacts and problems, involving stakeholders, setting policy goals and management objectives, carrying capacity and related planning issues, strategies and solutions to tourism management problems, promoting a site.More |
| Tracking the Path of Sustainable Tourism - by
Four-page coloured booklet prepared by the MAB Programme for the World Ecotourism Summit held in Quebec City in May 2002. Includes examples of tourism related activities in individual biosphere reserves.More |
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| FEATURES |
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