Ajay Khajuria
“Investing in Sustainable Tourism is investing in a better future for all’ – This observation by Antinio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, sums up the importance of sustainable tourism policies in the fast evolving Global economy today. It also provides an apt underpinning for the theme selected for the celebration of World Tourism Day 2023, i.e. ‘Tourism and Green Investments’, by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
As International tourist arrivals accelerate, narrowing the gap between the pre-Covid levels in 2019 to only -10% in July 2023, against an aggregate of -16% in the first seven months of the current year, being much lower than -34% for the year 2022 and -64% for 2021, the Global tourism fraternity is looking towards gearing up for the tourism of the future. While it does so, however, the lessons of sustainability administered by the pandemic, perhaps, remain upper-most in the minds of leaders and planners in the tourism sector across the Globe.
The theme is also in consonance with the blueprint for sustainable Global tourism as encapsuled in the ‘GOA Roadmap for Tourism’, thrashed out by the G20 Tourism Working group and adopted by the ‘G20 Leaders Declaration’ during the Summit of the Worlds most influential group, held under India’s presidency in New Delhi, earlier this month. The roadmap which focuses on five interconnected priorities identified by the Working Group, i.e. Green Tourism, Digitalization, Skills, Tourism MSMEs, and Destination Management, also offers a comprehensive strategy for nations to align their tourism policies with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
As the upbeat tourism industry looks into the options for strategic investment in the sector, the ‘greening of tourism’ becomes a priority which, as per the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), entails tourism activities that can be maintained, or sustained, indefinitely in their social, economic, cultural, and environmental contexts. This requires active tourism policies and recovery measures to drive the transition to greener tourism business models and value chains, and to improve the environmental outcomes for destinations, while delivering benefits to local economies and communities.
One of the fundamental aspects that require to be attended in this regard is the need to invest in education and skills to raise the competence levels to meet the future requirements of the sector, especially, in moving towards a green orientation. As estimated by UNTWO, the global tourism workforce will require millions of hospitality graduates annually between now and 2030, besides hundreds of thousands of jobs a year requiring specific vocational training. The need to invest in training human resources is therefore imperative, as they are the foundation of tourism, and it is important that all those who wish to be part of the sector have the same opportunities to access quality tourism training, anywhere in the world. In this context, digitalization and innovation programs also comprise a strategic priority to support particularly young people and women, who are critical to upskill the tourism sector’s workforce. There is also a need to increase investments in programs that support and incentivize entrepreneurship.
Another crucial factor in achieving the goal of green tourism is the need for reducing tourism’s greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency. For this it is essential to make available more government capital to advance environmentally friendly projects as well as financial compensation for implementing the energy transition of moving from fossil fuel consumption to renewable fuels. Currently, most energy consumed in hotels and tourist accommodations is fossil fuels causing an increase in carbon dioxide emissions and environmental pollution. This needs to be effectively countered by using green financing to speed up investment in projects using clean energy in the hospitality sector. In this regard, policies which establish clear standards for environmental and social responsibility and provide for incentives such as tax subsidies for renewable energy or eco-friendly practices need to be adopted to facilitate green tourism investment.
Urgent action is also needed to address the existential threat of climate change, through climate change adaptation which entails investment in new solutions and technologies not only to decarbonize the sector as well as to ensure climate-resilient infrastructure, but also for responding to, and preparing for, climatic hazards and related environmental and socio-economic impacts. This further requires investments in equipping local communities with the knowledge and skills required for creating and managing sustainable community based tourism products and helping them in marketing the same. The concept of sustainable tourism also needs to be widely disseminated amongst all stakeholders across the board in the tourism industry, sensitizing them to the current and future economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism and encouraging them to strive to be more sustainable.
A concerted effort for creating awareness about sustainable tourism practices among tourists and educating them about the benefits of sustainable tourism practices can further encourage responsible behavior and help promote sustainable tourism practices. In fact, increased public awareness about the benefits of sustainable tourism as a result of investments in public education and awareness campaigns through various means such as social media, TV, radio, etc., can be a vital factor in encouraging demand for green tourism thereby attracting investment in greening of tourism.
Measures also need to be taken to bring about ecosystem restoration by halting and reversing, where possible, the declining trend in biodiversity and destruction of fragile habitats. To actively contribute to improving the health of ecological systems requires, besides promoting sustainable tourism in general, a special focus on implementing ecotourism which term itself refers to a segment within the tourism sector with specific focus on environmental sustainability. Gaining currency since the eighties, and being the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry in many parts of the World, ecotourism implies travel by highly aware and motivated tourists to relatively undisturbed natural settings where flora, fauna and cultural heritage are the main attractions and comprises a form of low-impact tourism.
Besides displaying a high degree of interest in protection and conservation of the local ecosystems as also in empowerment and benefits to the local communities, ecotourists act as ambassadors of environmental conservation who demand meticulous safeguarding of the local cultural and natural heritage, and contributing to local livelihoods and incomes. They also insist on more energy efficiency and use of renewable energy, less consumption of water, minimizing waste, etc. It is important to lay an emphasis on promoting ecotourism by strengthening community capabilities, prescribing effective regulations/guidelines, and putting in place the requisite multi-disciplinary administrative structures for implementing the same.
For a World grappling with extraordinary Environmental Degradation and Climate Change the call for action by the United Nations World Tourism Organization to strive for investing in the greening of tourism has, perhaps, not come a day too soon. However, the extent to which it is actually taken up by the tourism fraternity of the World, remains to be seen.
(The author is a retired JKAS officer and formerly Director Tourism Jammu.)
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