Policy experts and statisticians specialized in sustainable development, environment and tourism gathered to agree on the way forward in developing a statistical framework for sustainable tourism. The meeting was held at UNWTO headquarters in Madrid last 20-21 October.
The first meeting of the Working Group of Experts on Measuring Sustainable Tourism (MST) agreed that developing a statistical framework for sustainable tourism is a priority to support integrated policy responses at national and destination level, and urged UNWTO to lead this effort.
The Group agreed that the core rationale for developing a statistical framework is to support the measurement of sustainable tourism in its various dimensions (economic, environmental and social) and at the relevant spatial levels (global, national, sub-national) by providing a common language and organizing structure for exploiting the richness of data already available and for identifying additional data that may be needed.
“The Sustainable Development Goals and the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017 constitute a unique opportunity to advance sustainable, inclusive and responsible tourism; developing a statistical framework to measure sustainable tourism is essential in fostering a common understanding for tracking our progress,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. “Tourism stakeholders at large will benefit from having a statistical framework for sustainable tourism much like we all benefit from the TSA which provides the framework for tourism’s economic contribution”.
For additional information visit Towards a Statistical Framework for Measuring Sustainable Tourism (MST) Event website.
