Monitoring Tourism Sustainability

Introduction

To measure and evaluate tourism activities integrating economic development with social and environmental performance is a critical challenge faced by destinations, for policy-making, planning and management processes.

The purpose of this section is to share information and good practices for monitoring economic, environmental and social development in the tourism sector, viewing to evaluate short term effectiveness and long term prospects for increased sustainability, based on reliable and consistent approaches.

Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST)

Webpage: https://www.unwto.org/standards/measuring-sustainability-tourism

Statistical Framework

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has been promoting the use of sustainable tourism indicators since early 1990s, as key instruments for evaluation and planning purposes.

With the support of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), UNWTO has launched the initiative “Towards a Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST)”, to establish an international background to assess the role of tourism in sustainable development. The MST aims to become the third international standard on tourism, after the International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account.

This international common framework is supporting the credibility, comparability and implementation of several measurement and monitoring programmes referring to sustainable tourism, including the derivation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators, as well as the indicators of UNWTO International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO).

The MST is a valuable guiding tool to produce reliable and integrated data at global, national and sub-national levels for measuring the impacts and contributions of tourism, to promote the dialogue among different actors and to support evidence-based management and policy-making at destinations, towards sustainable tourism,. In short, MST is envisaged to “make visible what has often been invisible in the data: the connections between tourism’s economic, social and environmental effects and dependencies”. For example, the MST enables the linking of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).

Further reading:

Pilot Studies

For testing the framework for MST, UNWTO is promoting pilot projects in countries or destinations, to “help produce specific policy-related questions from authorities, while also allowing them to provide feedback on the framework with critical information for its improvement”.

A recent publication was issued by UNWTO, presenting eleven MST pilot studies and related initiatives, including four countries in the European Union (Austria, Germany, Italy, Sweden):

These pilot studies are aimed to measure the sustainability of tourism using tools that are in line with the MST statistical framework. According to UNWTO, “the main goal of this publication is two-fold: a) to showcase the excellent work conducted by pilot countries in advancing the implementation of MST, and b) to encourage other countries and destinations to join this important effort”.

Nine of the eleven countries participating in the above publication provided additional information on the pilot studies through a questionnaire. Based on the answers obtained, it is possible to conclude that the main challenges referring to further development of data to support sustainable tourism approaches are the following: 1) lack of funding; 2) lack of support or interest from the policy community; 3) lack of methodological guidance and technical skills

Further reading:

International Network of Sustainable Torusm Observatories (INSTO)

Webpage: http://insto.unwto.org

The INSTO was created in 2004, having as mission “to support and connect destinations that are committed to regular monitoring of economic, environmental and social impacts of tourism, to unlock the power of evidence-based decision making at the destination-level, fostering sustainable tourism practices locally and globally”.

Six major objectives are embedded in the INSTO methodology to provide key tools to strengthen institutional capacities for sustainable tourism policies, strategies, plans and management processes:

  • Integrated Approach – to provide a framework for the systematic, timely and regular monitoring of resource-use and a better understanding of the impact of tourism.
  • Evidence – to establish a strong foundation of tangible and structured data for well-informed decision making.
  • Stakeholder Empowerment – to actively engage local stakeholders in the measurement of risks, costs, impacts, limits and opportunities through an inclusive and participatory approach.
  • Network and Learn – to exchange information for improved knowledge, collaboration, communication and greater public accountability.
  • Performance Measurement – to monitor and advise on the implementation of sustainable development plans, policies and management actions.
  • Continuity – to foster long-term commitment for regular monitoring.

Based on the over 40 issue areas published by UNWTO (“Indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destinations: A Guidebook”), the following nine areas have been identified as mandatory to be monitored by each member Observatory:

  • Local satisfaction with tourism
  • Destination economic benefits
  • Employment
  • Tourism seasonality
  • Energy management
  • Water management
  • Waste water (sewage) management
  • Solid waste management
  • Governance

Since the establishment in 2004, a total of 31 Observatories have joined the UNWTO INSTO Network. Three of these Observatories are in the regions involved in the LABELSCAPE project:

Aegean Islands Sustainable Tourism Observatory. Greece

Webpage: http://tourismobservatory.ba.aegean.gr/en/archiki-english/

The Aegean Islands Sustainable Tourism Observatory was created to “support private and public decision-makers with data and analysis on tourism in Aegean destinations, but also in Greek tourism in general, as well as other information that can contribute in this direction”.

The Observatory is a member of INSTO Network since 2013 and it was the first sustainable tourism observatory of INSTO in Europe.

The Observatory is hosted by the University of the Aegean and the monitoring territory is focused on the Aegean Islands (2 regions; 48 islands).

The key monitoring areas are:

  • Economic impacts of tourism, including the state of the labour market
  • Tourism Seasonality
  • Local satisfaction with tourism
  • Visitor satisfaction
  • Production patterns, including environmental information
Alentejo Sustainable Tourism Observatory (ASTO). Portugal

Webpage: https://www.asto.pt/en/app/index

The aim of ASTO is “to measure and monitor tourism sustainability development in Alentejo  region, generating best practices that will be instrumental in improving evidence-based decision making at national, regional and local levels, in supporting the development of sustainable tourism and in the protection of the fragile natural resources that are the basis of tourism development”.

The Observatory is a member of INSTO Network since 2018 and it is hosted by the University of Évora. The monitoring territory covers the Alentejo Region (31,605 sq. km; 743,306 inhabitants).

The key monitoring areas are:

  • Employment
  • Destination economic benefits
  • Tourism seasonality
  • Energy management
  • Water management
  • Solid waste management
  • Waste water (sewage) management
  • Local satisfaction with tourism and governance
Croatian Sustainable Tourism Observatory (CROSTO). Croatia

Webpage: http://crosto.hr/en/

The main objective of CROSTO is “to continuously measure and monitor the development of sustainable tourism in the most tourism developed region of Croatia (Adriatic Croatia). Through the establishment of periodic and systematic monitoring processes, the observatory is key to observe and understand issues related to sustainable tourism, supporting local stakeholders in their decision-making processes with essential evidence”.

The Observatory is a member of INSTO Network since 2016 and it is hosted by the Croatian Institute for Tourism. The monitoring territory is Adriatic Croatia, the coastal part of Croatia, which includes seven counties (24,705 sq. Km; 1,411,935 inhabitants)

 The key monitoring areas are:

  • Satisfaction of the host communities
  • Visitor satisfaction
  • Local economic benefits and employment
  • Tourism seasonality
  • Energy, water and waste control
  • Spatial development control