Source: UNEP
October 4, 2011
October 4, 2011
The Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism, a recently-founded United Nations-backed membership organization, announced today the launch of a new website (http://www.globalsustainabletourism.com/). This partnership has the mission of transforming tourism around the world by integrating the concepts of resource efficiency and sustainable consumption and production, biodiversity, cultural preservation and socio-economic fairness into the development and operations of the tourism sector.
“We think the website will serve as an important resource for our members for networking, information sharing and building joint projects on the ground,” said Blanka Belosovic, Head of the Croatian International Cooperation Department. Arab Hoballah, Chief of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch expects it to become the ‘go-to’ source for all interested tourism actors. These include governments who want to make tourism a key driver of sustainable development, investors and donors who want to use their money wisely, and travelers who want to spend their cash responsibly while on vacation.
One innovative feature is an intranet system that allows members of the partnership to identify donors and investment opportunities to obtain financing. In parallel, the partnership’s secretariat will provide guidelines to help NGOs and companies hone their proposals to meet the expectations and requirements of the funding institutions. Gerard Ruiz, chair of the Partnership highlights that “Money is scarce, and if we can help get it into the right projects, you are going to see a surge in sustainable tourism development.” The system also helps members to identify potential partners that can provide technical assistance.
This Partnership, chaired by France, was founded in January 2011 during a meeting at Costa Rica’s Manuel Antonio National Park. It evolved from three years of work by a group called the International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism Development (ITF-STD). The ITF-STD was a product of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, which called for an economy-wide shift to sustainable consumption and production patterns.
“We think the website will serve as an important resource for our members for networking, information sharing and building joint projects on the ground,” said Blanka Belosovic, Head of the Croatian International Cooperation Department. Arab Hoballah, Chief of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch expects it to become the ‘go-to’ source for all interested tourism actors. These include governments who want to make tourism a key driver of sustainable development, investors and donors who want to use their money wisely, and travelers who want to spend their cash responsibly while on vacation.One innovative feature is an intranet system that allows members of the partnership to identify donors and investment opportunities to obtain financing. In parallel, the partnership’s secretariat will provide guidelines to help NGOs and companies hone their proposals to meet the expectations and requirements of the funding institutions. Gerard Ruiz, chair of the Partnership highlights that “Money is scarce, and if we can help get it into the right projects, you are going to see a surge in sustainable tourism development.” The system also helps members to identify potential partners that can provide technical assistance.
This Partnership, chaired by France, was founded in January 2011 during a meeting at Costa Rica’s Manuel Antonio National Park. It evolved from three years of work by a group called the International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism Development (ITF-STD). The ITF-STD was a product of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, which called for an economy-wide shift to sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Membership in the partnership is open to national and local governments, other public agencies, companies and business associations, and non-governmental organizations and non-profit groups. Less than a year after its founding, the partnership already has 80 members, including 19 governments, eight United Nations agencies, 32 non-profit organizations, and nine business groups. “Only by working together can we make progress on implementing sustainable tourism policies, practices and projects,” said Luigi Cabrini, director for Sustainable Tourism of the UNWTO.
The new website will be divided into public and members-only sections. The public section will include a searchable, multimedia compilation of the latest news and information about sustainable tourism development. It will rely on contributions from member organizations, which include most of the leading actors in the field. A special section will provide access to the publications of member organizations, and a calendar will feature events organized or sponsored by members. Filters will allow users to find projects and initiatives by theme and geographic location.
The members-only section will include the contact information of members and their projects, a document sharing function, and social networking features. The website is designed to support the efforts of groups already working on sustainable tourism development, help them work together more effectively, and attract new partners and allies to the cause of sustainable tourism.
