Statistics, Sustainability and Governance: UN Tourism hosts a week of meetings

UN Tourism has concluded a week of multi-stakeholder meetings as it further establishes its leadership in the global statistics and knowledge management space.

With the global tourism sector shifting towards greater sustainability, the meetings at the Organization’s Madrid headquarters advanced work around effective governance and harmonized measurement and monitoring.

Statistics for Sustainability

The Expert Group on Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST) met for the fifth time, moving on from the technical development of the landmark UN-endorsed Statistical Framework to its global implementation. Endorsed by the 55th session of the UN Statistical Commission, this framework is the first sectoral example of statistics going beyond GDP, demonstrating the integration of data across economic, environmental, and social dimensions, from global to local scales. During its meeting in Madrid, the Expert Group – made up of representatives of ministries, national statistical offices, international and regional organizations, subnational authorities, academic institutions and the private sector – explored the potential for a common set of indicators for international reporting on the sustainability impacts of the sector.

The UN Tourism Committee on Statistics celebrated its 20th anniversary, recognizing the leadership over the past mandate of Austria and Spain as co-Chairs, as well as Saudi Arabia and Seychelles as Vice-Chairs. To mark the milestones achieved so far, the Committee reflected on the future of tourism statistics. High-level representatives from 21 countries from every global region, as well as from international and regional organizations, academia, subnational authorities and the private sector, shared their experiences and vision for developing systems for tourism statistics. Additionally, delegates were informed of UN Tourism’s new dataset on tourism employment developed jointly with the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Landmark launch of tourism ESG initiative

In partnership with the University of Oxford SDG Impact Lab and with the generous support of easyJet holidays, UN Tourism is working to develop the first harmonised Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework tailored specifically for the sector. The Madrid headquarters hosted the inaugural event of the ESG Framework for Tourism Businesses, bringing together over 45 leading experts in the ESG space, from around the world. Attendees debated key aspects of the Framework and proposed critical items for future action.

Moving forward, UN Tourism will set up an ESG Advisory Panel, and present a preliminary Terms of Reference for approval by the UN Tourism Executive Council.