Euromonitor International has built a Sustainable Travel Index to help destinations and travel businesses make the transition to a more resilient form of tourism, that takes account of positive and negative impacts, balancing environmental, social and economic concerns. The index enables countries to gauge their performance across key sustainability pillars to move from words to action. We bring the index results to life through case studies and provide a source of inspiration.
This report comes in PPT.
Following the devastating impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic, there is a clear change in mindset to resist returning to the volume-driven legacy model. Instead, stakeholders are rallying together to the call of #buildbackbetter through value creation from sustainable tourism.
Not surprisingly given the European Green Deal, the top 20 leading countries in the Sustainable Travel Index for 2020 are located in Europe, led by Sweden ranked first with its unique, eco-chic tourism offer that spans Arctic adventures to cool city experiences.
Mozambique tops the environmental pillar having started its sustainable tourism transformation over 20 years ago. With COP26 in 2021, the warnings from the UNFCCC for urgent climate action to avoid irreversible damage are being heard loud and clear by many.
With the collapse in travel, destinations had to act with agility, with Iceland, Australia and Norway demonstrating the best performance for sustainable tourism demand, thanks to vibrant domestic tourism sectors and driving high value creation for local communities.
The elephant in the room is international aviation, sitting outside the parameters of the Paris Agreement. Hopes are pinned on future progress in biofuels, hybrid electric and hydrogen powered aircraft to meet the industry-regulated CORSIA targets.
The positive social impacts of tourism came to the forefront during the pandemic, vital for jobs, equality, education and poverty eradication. Ever more companies are tracking their direct and indirect impacts, especially by going B Corp.
Tapping into the zeitgeist, businesses and communities are looking at ways to reap the benefits of opening up to tourism in a safe, seamless and sustainable way, giving rise to a new purpose-driven model that focuses on regeneration as seen with New Zealand.
Travel encompasses several categories including tourism flows, lodging, travel modes, in-destination spending and booking.
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