World Tourism Day 2022:Rethink Tourism For Better Future

World Tourism Day 2022 is celebrated every year on September 27. The United Nations World Tourism Organization founded the event in 1980 to spread awareness of the significance of tourism to the global society and to honor the sector’s distinctive contributions.
Indonesia will serve as the official host nation for this year’s celebration, which will highlight the chance to reassess how we approach tourism to create a more robust, accessible, and sustainable industry.

A chance to pause and consider the significance of tourism and its potential to support sustainable development is provided by World Tourism Day.
“Rethinking Tourism” is the theme for this year. The emphasis will be on examining the expansion of the tourism industry and reevaluating the growing tourism after the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The conference’s topic, “Rethinking Tourism,” will be a reflection of our efforts to encourage discussion about rethinking tourism for development, especially through education and employment, as well as its effects on the environment and potential for more sustainable growth.

“Being sustainable is not about hardship and loss, it’s about beauty & creativity.“

Claire

The tourism industry has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to World Travel & Tourism Council, 62 million jobs were lost in 2020. In 2021, 18.2 million employment were restored, a rise of 6.7% from the previous year.
But now International tourism saw a strong rebound in the first five months of 2022, with almost 250 million international arrivals recorded. This means that the sector has recovered almost half (46%) of pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

The Glasgow Declaration is a facilitator for increasing urgency on the need to accelerate climate action in the tourism industry and cut emissions in half over the next decade and achieve Net Zero emissions as soon as practicable before 2050.
The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism has been signed by more than 450 organizations to hasten climate action.

Let’s discuss the various positive and negative impacts of global tourism to analyze and rethink tourism debates and how we could achieve the net zero emissions target by 2050.

🟢World Tourism Day 2022:Positive Impacts Of Tourism

One of the most significant economic drivers in the globe is tourism. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the tourism industry employs about 68 million people worldwide, contributes about $1.5 trillion to the global GDP, and is one of the biggest and most significant forces behind economic growth.
One in ten people on the planet work in tourism.

The global community benefits in a variety of ways from tourism. It promotes:

• Increase Sustainable Development.
• Expands Educational Opportunities
• Lessen poverty
• Increase Employment. Decrease the unemployment rate and criminal activities.
• More funding for the nation.
• Due to the popularity of traditional cultures like dance, and music among tourists, local traditions and customs are preserved.
• Increased interest in regional foods and artifacts.
• Revenue generated from tourism can be used to preserve the natural environment.
• Cultures of the nations where tourism takes place are positively affected by cultural heritage and wildlife preservation.

🟢World Tourism Day 2022:Negative Impacts Of Tourism

The worst impact of tourism is on our planet’s ecosystem.
The burden due to CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions in the environment is producing an imbalance in nature.
Large developmental activities to increase accessibility in remote areas are disturbing our fragile ecosystem. Resulting in accidents for example landslides, erosion, floods, etc.
Increased Accessibility + Major Developments = More Accidents!
There must be balance!
Sustainability is needed.

As per UNWTO, Tourism-related CO2 emissions account for 22% of all transportation-related emissions. The execution of a high-ambition scenario must therefore be supported by improved cooperation with the transport sector.
Major contributors to CO2 emissions while traveling is Cruise and Flights.
The largest and most effective cruise ships in the world, according to the ICCT (International Council on Clean Transport), generate about 250 gCO2/pax-km. (Carbon dioxide per passenger km).
An airplane releases between 10 to 130 g of carbon dioxide per passenger kilometer, with longer flights typically having a lower carbon intensity.

Tourism can have a number of negative impacts on local communities, including:

• Damage to the environment, such as littering, and habitat destruction for hotel and road construction.
• Jobs are frequently underpaid and seasonal(depending on the time of year)
• Overcrowding conditions and traffic jams.
• Due to the fact that tourists are frequently wealthier than the local population, prices in local shops rise.
• Large corporations make up the majority of the region’s income more than locals.
  
  From the above points, we could understand that global greenhouse gas emissions are strongly affected by transportation. The majority of this footprint comes from high-income countries and their inhabitants. In reality, the quickening rate of the demand for travel is outperforming the technology associated with tourism’s decarbonization.
  
  According to researchers from the University of Sydney, the worldwide tourism industry may be responsible for 8% of all carbon emissions, and its yearly carbon emissions amount close to 4.3 billion metric tonnes.
  
  Let’s sustainably revamp the tourism industry on this world tourism day 2022 to run low-emission and highly effective operations.
  
  By considering the positive and negative impacts of tourism, let’s discuss the solutions and change we could bring today for a better future.
  

 🟢#RethinkingTourism ➡ Promote Sustainable Tourism!

The UN Environment Program and UN World Tourism Organization describe sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities.”

This World Tourism Day 2022 let’s rethink tourism to travel sustainably. It’s time to change the way we travel.

There are numerous ways to promote sustainable travel.
One strategy is to encourage visitors to go to locations that are off the usual path. This contributes to the economic development of more rural and isolated areas and to the preservation of the essence of these locations.

Encourage visitors to support companies that are socially and environmentally conscious as another method to promote sustainable tourism.
Businesses that employ sustainable techniques, help out local communities and provide decent pay and working conditions are included in this.

The key is self-awareness!
Individual travelers can also take a variety of actions to support sustainable travel.
One is to become informed about the problems with sustainable tourism and try to support and follow it when they travel.
Respect for the local cultures and environments they visit.

We can all work to make tourism a positive force by supporting sustainable travel options in the following ways:

1. Prefer Homestays/Staycations/Workations
2. Become a Slow Traveller
3. Transform accommodations into a more sustainable one
4. Choosing sustainable means of transport
5. Switching to clean renewable energy
6. Limit overcrowding at destinations
7. Giving preference to local and traditional foods than imported
8. Proper waste management- 3R’s
9. Eco-friendly Cutlery-Say no to plastic
10. Bringing Sustainable Innovations into the tourism sector

Conclusion

The tourism industry needs to be transformed and revitalized immediately now that we have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Rethinking tourism on this World Tourism Day 2022 can help us change the perspective towards the way we travel, to be more sustainable, in a way that people will take climate concerns into account while booking vacations.

People’s participation is a must in achieving sustainable tourism goals.
By self-awaring!
Especially by choosing and transforming tourism into sustainable means of transport and accommodations, we can pave the way to a net zero emission target by 2050.

Come on, let’s act now by spreading these words. Spread it to everyone!

A Gentle Reminder,
Climate change and global warming are real!
Act accordingly!

Can you provide any other suggestions for Sustainable Tourism? Let us know in the comments section.


Thanks for reading!
Have a safe & sustainable travel!