Policies

Tourism policy development requires a strategy that promotes both sustainable development and poverty reduction, while also addressing specific issues like climate change and biodiversity. This strategy should include local, national and regional governments, consumers and residents in the implementation of programmes in pursuit of common goals. At the local level, integrated management is needed to protect essential resources and assets, make sure that tourism remains a viable activity in the long-term, and increase and better distribute its benefits. At the national and regional levels, policymakers should work together to protect what is attractive about a destination while at the same time promoting it.

Before it was transformed into the Global Partnership, the members of the International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism Development (ITF-STD) agreed on a set of policy recommendations regarding tourism planning and management. They address key stakeholders: governments (including local authorities), indigenous and local communities, international organizations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and consumers. They emerged from the ITF-STD’s projects and the lessons learned by the task force about how to promote sustainable tourism.

Click here to see the ITF-STD policy recommendations