Pomiar zrównoważonego rozwoju turystyki – cel i koncepcja

Abstract

mainly depends on – apart from the necessary tourism infrastructure facilities – an intact and unsoiled nature and picturesque landscapes. Therefore, a high quality of the natural and social environment is one of the most important production factors of tourism industry, as tourists want to move to attractive and unpolluted places which are one of the main travel purposes.
In many regions and countries sustainable tourism policies are more or less well developed; however, there is still a lack of guidance and information on how to monitor this progress. Given its economic, social and environmental implications and its potential for growth, tourism plays, and will continue to play, a major role in our societies.
Considering this fact, the development of tools measuring the economic, social and ecological sustainability applicable to the tourism industry was initiated by various (national and international) organizations and proposed for implementation.
Based on the “UN 2030 Agenda” (see UN 2015), the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO, now “UN Tourism”; see UNWTO 2017a) - one of the leading international organisations dealing with tourism and tourism statistics - has set itself the goal of measuring sustainable tourism as part of a specially defined project “Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism” (MST; see UNWTO 2017b) and a multidisciplinary Expert Group on MST12 has been set up jointly with the UN Statistics Division (UNSD). The need for statistical analysis of the topic stems from the increasing realization that tourism - beyond its links with the economy - has an impact on the environment and society in general.
A pre-condition for MST is the development of a common accepted statistical framework which aims to provide an internationally agreed statistical tool to measure the impacts and dependencies of tourism on the economy, society and the environment. Therefore, a “Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism” (SF-MST; see UNWTO 2023a) has being developed by UNWTO in partnership with leading countries, and with the support of the UNSD, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and others. Work is being led by the Expert Group on MST under the auspices of the UNWTO Committee on Statistics13. After the “Global Consultation Process” in October/November 2023 the Framework is going to be sent to the UN Statistical Commission14 (UNSC) for its endorsement through the Commission.
The document is structured as follows: after the introduction and the rationale of the document, the second section provides an overview of the steps developing the SF-MST; the third section shows the underlying concepts of SF-MST. The fourth section gives insights related to the purpose of developing a SF-MST; before concluding the fifth part provides some thoughts related to potential indicators measuring the sustainability of tourism.
The document is mainly based – among others - on the Draft SF-MST (see UNWTO 2023a), the presentation held on 26 October 2023 at Vistula University Group (see Laimer 2023) and the keynote paper presented at the Manila Conference in 2017 (see Laimer 2017).