Urban Tourism: Policies and Governance for More Sustainable, Inclusive, Creative, and Resilient Cities

Tourism is one of the world’s key socioeconomic drivers. Prior to the pandemic, it was the third-largest export category globally and one of the world’s leading employers, especially women, representing 54% of the workforce. The sector has also proven to empower entrepreneurship and SMEs, which are predominant in the sector, and stimulate economic diversification due to its multiplying effect on other sectors. Having been hard-hit by COVID-19 the sector is now close to full recovery, with many cities and countries already surpassing their 2019 tourism levels. In recent years, tourism has also become an essential pillar in the development for many cities and regions, promoting income, jobs, the protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage, contributing to the development of cultural and creative sectors, and functioning as a catalyst for social inclusion and better living conditions for local communities. Yet, alongside the various opportunities that tourism represents, its significant growth and structural changes have increased the existing challenges of cities, particularly in those cases where the activity is highly seasonal and where the proportion of visitors in relation to the local population is high. Tourism is by nature a sector strongly linked to the territory, local culture and social interaction. The sustainable development of tourism on the territory has the potential to advance urban infrastructure and universal accessibility, preserve cultural and natural assets, stimulate creative industries, promote the regeneration of neglected areas, enhance mobility, innovation and foster intercultural dialogue, eventually transforming cities in better places to visit and live. Yet, making tourism more sustainable it is three pillars - economic, sociocultural, and environmental – requires adequate and optimized polices and governance models that maximize the benefits of tourism, minimizing its adverse impacts and ensuring its benefits revert on all. In line with the SDGs, namely Goal 11 on “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, and the New Urban Agenda, the proposed event aims to serve as a platform for raising awareness about the important role of policies and governance as a key element for the sustainable development of tourism while sharing good practices and concrete examples. Discussions will focus on how to integrate all the relevant actors within the territory in the vision, planning and management of tourism, especially local communities, how to include tourism in urban and territorial planning and how to promote horizontal and vertical coordination among administrations for better policies and action plans.