Sustainable Tourism: UNWTO Priorities and Australian Industry

This report delves into the concept of sustainable tourism, defining it as an industry committed to minimizing the adverse effects of tourism on the environment and society. It aligns the priorities of the UNWTO with the Australian tourism industry, highlighting the importance of sustainable practices for economic development, local prosperity, and social equality. The report distinguishes between sustainable and responsible tourism, analyzing their similarities and differences, with a focus on eco-tourism and geo-tourism as examples of responsible tourism. It identifies global trends in sustainable tourism, such as luxury eco-tourism, green certifications, and the emergence of intelligent destinations. Finally, it addresses the challenges faced by the tourism industry, including global climate change and over-tourism, particularly in the Australian context, emphasizing the need for effective planning and regulation. The report concludes by stressing the importance of sustainable and responsible practices for the long-term sustainability of the travel and tourism sector and the safety and security of guests.

World Tourism organisation

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
1. Concept of sustainable tourism and matching the UNWTO priorities with Australia
tourism industry ..........................................................................................................................3
2. Analysing whether sustainable tourism is same as responsible tourism ...............................4
3. Identification of Trends in sustainable tourism at global level .............................................6
4. Sustainable tourism global challenges ...................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Sustainable tourism can be defined as an industry which is committed to taking high
initiative for lowering the adverse effect of the tourism activities on environment as well as
society. The main purpose of sustainable tourism is to make sure that development in tourism
have affirmative effect on society as well as environment. Sustainable tourism have positive
effect on the economic development of nation. In context of world trade organisation , the main
aim of sustainable tourism practices is to bring the economic viability, promote local prosperity
as well as social equality. WTO is basically a united nation agency which is mainly responsible
for promoting sustainable tourism.
The report have focus on identification of difference between responsible as well as
sustainable tourism. It also emphasizes on analysing the latest trends at international level in
context of sustainable tourism.
TASK
1. Concept of sustainable tourism and matching the UNWTO priorities with Australia tourism
industry .
Sustainable tourism can be defined as the different practices performed by tourism
industry in order to reduce the adverse effect of the tourism activities on economy, environment
and society. The main purpose of the sustainable tourism is to meet the needs as well as
expectations of both local people and tourists. Sustainable tourism helps in generation of income
as well as employment. In addition to this, sustainable tourism also intends to conserve local
ecosystem. The main objective of the sustainable tourism is to maintain the balance between
economic, environmental and social goals (Lamers, Nawijn and Eijgelaar, 2019.).
The World trade organisation is basically a national agency which is liable for promoting
responsible as well as sustainable tourism at global level. The priorities of the UN WTO are top
advocate the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth as well as development.
In addition to this, second priority of UN WTO is to support the sustainable tourism
policies as well as practices which makes optimum utilisation of environmental resources. In
addition to this, UNWTO also intends to promote the respect for the socio-cultural authenticity
of host nation.

The other priority of UNWTO is to increase the tourism contribution in reduction of
poverty. In addition to this, WTO and other tourism companies in Australia has formed the
strategic partnership with government as well as other non governmental organisation in order
to develop more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism industry. In context of
Australia, the tourism industry is making the significant contribution in development of nation.
According to the report of world tourism organisation there has been approx. 3.9 percent growth
of tourism sector in Australia. Training to employees working in tourism sector is considered to
be as one of the priority of tourism sector in Australia which helps in ensuring an effective as
well as efficient utilisation of resources (de Jong and Varley, 2018.). Both public as well as
private organisation in tourism sector is working together with government as well as non
government organisation in order to develop the sustainable tourism policies and practices
which mainly emphasizes on optimum as well as efficient utilisation of resources by tourist
visiting Australia. Government in Australia has developed as well as implemented certain laws
such as environmental legislations and policies in order to the ensure the increase in the
participation of tourism companies in development of society. In addition to this, legislation
such as environmental law are developed in order to encourage travel and tourism companies to
take high initiatives for reducing the negative effect of their business practices as well as tourism
activities on society, economy and environment of specific destination.
2. Analysing whether sustainable tourism is same as responsible tourism
Development Sustainable tourism requires the informed participation of both internal as
well as external stakeholders. In addition to this, strong leadership is very much essential in
order to make sure the participation of all stakeholder in sustainable tourism development.
Accomplishing the sustainable tourism development is considered to be as continuous procedure
that requires proper monitoring of the effects . In addition to this, it is very much essential for
management in UN WTO to take quick and an effective measures when needed.
Sustainable tourism assist in providing high level of satisfaction to tourists. In addition to
this, it also assist in providing good experience to visitors.
Responsible tourism is somewhat similar like sustainable tourism. Responsible tourism
can be defined as the tourism which can be consumed in more responsible manner. It is the type
of tourism which have focus on mini minimising the adverse effect of tourism activities on

economy, society and environment. The responsible tourism provides high economic benefit to
domestic people same as the sustainable tourism. Both sustainable as well as responsible tourist
assist local people in improving their living conditions. It is the responsible tourism which
makes significant contribution in the conservation of natural as well as cultural heritage. Both
sustainable as well as responsible tourism which provides more enjoyable experience to
tourists by helping them in developing strong connections with domestic people. It provides
tourist with an ease in developing the great understanding about local culture, environmental as
well as social issues. Responsible tourism is highly culturally sensitive and it also promotes
respect between tourist and hosts . In addition to this, responsible tourism also make domestic
people feel proud and highly confident about the nation (Heyne and Camacho, 2018).
For instance, Eco- tourism is basically a environmentally responsible tourism. It vis the
type of responsible tourism which promotes conservation and have focus on minimising the
negative effect of the visitors activities on particular destination. The four fundamental
principles of Eco- tourism are holistic planning and strategic development. Other important
principle of Eco- tourism is preservation of ecological procedure and protection of human
heritage as well as biodiversity. In addition to this, one more key principle of Eco -tourism is
development in order to make sure that productivity could be sustained for long period of time.
Geo tourism is basically a example of responsible tourism but it is similar to sustainable
tourism. It is the tourism which have focus on sense of place rather that efforts taken by tourism
industry to minimising the adverse effect of the tourism activities on economy, society and
environment.
Difference between responsible and sustainable tourism
The main purpose of sustainable tourism is to ensure the positive effect of tourism on
the society, environment and economy on the host destinations. Sustainable tourism can be
defined as actions taken by leaders as well as stakeholders in order to bring improvement in
industry. It also intends to make sure that profit are equally or fairly distributed. In addition to
this, sustainable tourism emphasizes on alleviation of poverty, stable employment as well as
implementation of social protection measures (Kristjánsdóttir, Ólafsdóttir and Ragnarsdóttir,
2018.). It is the tourism which is considered to be as integral part of tourism. Sustainable

tourism emphasizes on identification of the needs as well as demands of the visitors at host
destination.
On the other hand, responsible tourism intends to foster economy, environmental and
social development of host nation. It is responsible tourism which is based on the individual
actors. Responsible tourism can be defined as the manner in which visitors, residents and small
companies in travel and tourism sector interact with a destination. Responsible tourism is
mainly concerned with fostering a positive interaction between tourists and local people at
specific destination such as Australia. It is the responsible tourism which have focus on the
decisions as well as actions taken by government in order to maximise the positive effect of
tourism on society, economy and environment. Responsible tourism mainly have focus on
identifying the issues locally and addressing those, clearly reporting progress towards using
tourism for sustainable development.
3. Identification of Trends in sustainable tourism at global level
In context of sustainable tourism , the trends which are expected to take place in the
future includes changes in the attitude of tourists. The trends in tourism which will continue in
the future also includes responsible tourism which will have focus on reduction in carbon Foot
print. The revenue earned by the companies in tourism sector will be spend on the growth of
society and also development of host nation. Sustainable tourism is very much crucial for long
term sustainability of companies in Tourism sector. In the future, sustainable tourism will
emphasizes on reduction on plastic wastes. Due to changes in the laws, it will be mandatory for
the travel companies to perform the ozone-friendly practices. The customers or tourist in travel
and tourism sector will prefer green accommodations. In context of sustainable tourism the
trends which will take place in tourism sector will include :
Luxury Eco- tourism will be on the top of the chart : It is considered to be as one of an important
trend in context of sustainable tourism which will take place in the future. Luxuries hotel will
implement the paperless check out . For instance, White pod eco resort is providing the
immersive experience to guest by allowing them to sleep in luxurious pod suites
Green certifications: It is the people those who travel for the purpose of vacations giving a way
to sustainable tourism.
Designing impact travel : Travelling packages will be designed by the travel companies
considering the effect of specific transport on the environment. For instance, presently Paras

Lomba is a organisation which organises trecks in order to schedule Himalayan regions to
lodge solar micro grids to hamlets.
Voluntarism : It is considered to be as one of the key trend which will take place in context of
sustainable tourism. Volunteers will be appointed by travel companies in order to monitor as
well as control the tourists activities at specific destination (Hamid and Isa, 2018).
Emergence of intelligent destinations: It has been estimated that approx. two million people will
might visits to abroad. Travel Companies will use big data analytics in order to prevent the
overcrowding at specific destination. For instance, presently the tourism company in Canada is
utilising the bid data in order to divert tourist to under visited regions.
In context of tourism industry in Australia, millennials are supporting the development
of responsible tourism.
4. Sustainable tourism global challenges
Global climate change is considered to be as one of the major challenges faced by travel
and tourism companies. In context of Australia, the travel and tourism company in nation is
facing the challenges in context of sustainable tourism is related to label over tourism. The main
reason for such type of challenge is poor planning and ineffective regulation which has created
the barriers in development of sustainable tourism. Over tourism just means unsustainable
tourism where the negative impacts for the destination environment and community outweigh
any positive impacts (Kakoudakis and McCabe, 2018). In addition to this, continue trend of
massive growth in context of international tourism and increase in budget travel options
creating a sustainability challenges for travel companies in Australia.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that sustainable as well as responsible
practices are very much important in context of maintaining the long term business
sustainability of travel and tourism sector. The other fact which has been discovered from the
study is that key challenge which is faced by the travel companies is related to ensuring the
safety as well as security of guests.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Lamers, M., Nawijn, J. and Eijgelaar, E., 2019. Political Consumerism for Sustainable Tourism.
In The Oxford Handbook of Political Consumerism (p. 349). Oxford University Press.
de Jong, A. and Varley, P., 2018. Foraging tourism: Critical moments in sustainable
consumption. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(4), pp.685-701.
Heyne, L.A. and Camacho, J.V., 2018. 12 Revitalizing Rural Communities in Costa Rica
Through Sustainable Tourism. Tourism, Health, Wellbeing and Protected Areas, p.149.
Kristjánsdóttir, K.R., Ólafsdóttir, R. and Ragnarsdóttir, K.V., 2018. Reviewing integrated
sustainability indicators for tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(4), pp.583-599.
Hamid, M.A. and Isa, S.M., 2018. The Influence of adopting sustainable tourism practices
towards sustainable performance among Malaysian tour operators. Proceedings Book,
p.169.
Kakoudakis, K.I. and McCabe, S., 2018. Social tourism as a modest, yet sustainable,
development strategy: policy recommendations for Greece. Journal of Policy Research in
Tourism, Leisure and Events, 10(3), pp.189-203.
ONLINE:
Sustainable Tourism Trends and Challenges in 2019. 2019. [ONLINE]. Available
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