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Urban tourism - Policies and governance for more sustainable, inclusive, creative and resilient cities

Jointly organized by UN Tourism, UN-Habitat, and UNESCO, the event aims to discuss the vital role of policies and governance in ensuring that urban tourism contributes positively to the sustainability, inclusiveness and resilience of urban spaces.

Zoritsa Urosevic

Moderator

date November 6, 2024 | 09:00 - 10:30
place
ONE UN room B
organization
UN Tourism
country
Spain
language
English, English, French, Spanish
Reference: 
UN-B 6
WUF12

Summary

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.

Objectives

-Raising awareness among local policymakers about the power of tourism as a driver to accelerating the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda.
-Stressing the importance across local governments and administrations about the need to include tourism in the broader urban agenda to maximize its benefits and minimize its impacts for improving residents' quality of life and visitors' experience.
-Calling regional and local governments and stakeholders to take action to work towards building inclusive and sustainable cities and territories for all.
-Promoting and harnessing the unique value of cultural heritage and creativity for sustainable tourism, notably in the urban context.
-Identifying the key challenges facing urban tourism in relation to sustainability in its three pillars.
-Stimulating discussion and exchange of know-how between cities and strategic stakeholders on sustainable urban tourism development, inspiring innovative approaches and strategies.
-Advocating for stronger linkages between tourism, culture and urban and territorial planning and development to advance sustainable cities and regions.
-Creating a space that allows for the identification of cross-cutting synergies and partnerships within and among cities and across key stakeholders at all levels.
-Encouraging public-private-community collaboration to help deliver solutions to urban tourism challenges.
-Influencing local city agendas by leveraging the collective voice of local governments on sustainable tourism.

Session panelists

Panelist
Role
Organization
Country
Mr. Michal Mlynár
Acting Executive Director
UN-Habitat
Mr. Ernesto Ottone R.
Assistant Director-General for Culture
UNESCO
Ms. CLLR Princess Faku
Mayor of Buffalo City (TBC)
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality
Mr. Rui Moreira
Mayor of Porto (TBC)
Camara Municipal do Porto
Ms. Carolina Darias San Sebastián
Mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (TBC)
Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria