2017 is the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tour-ism for Development, recalling the potential of tourism to advance the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer be-haviour towards a more sustainable tourism sector that can contribute effectively to the SDGs.

Accounting for 7 per cent of worldwide exports, one in eleven jobs and 10 per cent of the world’s GDP, the tourism sector, if well managed, can foster inclusive economic growth, social inclusive-ness and the protection of cultural and natural assets.

The International Year is to promote tourism’s role in the following five key areas:

• Inclusive and sustainable economic growth;
• Social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction;
• Resource efficiency, environmental protection and climate change;
• Cultural values, diversity and heritage;
• Mutual understanding, peace and security.

Sustainable tourism offers a real opportunity for emerging and developing countries. When it is designed to truly embrace sustainability a myriad of actors within a given region can reap benefit from the tourism sector, including farmers, for example, by offering primarily locally-grown food.

Sustainable tourism should also incite more understanding between different cultures, thereby contributing to greater tolerance and, in the final instance, to avoiding conflicts and encouraging peace-building efforts.

Moreover, sustainable tourism has to be designed to achieve maximum environmental and cli-mate protection. Optimally, sustainable tourism will be a vehicle for protecting and restoring bio-diversity.

(UNWTO/ile)