Sustainable development and the G20

https://www.unwto.org/news/g20-welcomes-roadmap-to-make-tourism-key-driver-of-sustainable-development-goals

• UNWTO and G20 developed the "Goa Roadmap for Tourism as a Vehicle for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals" to make tourism a central pillar of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• This roadmap aims to accelerate progress towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and builds upon the priorities set by India's G20 Presidency.

• The roadmap focuses on five key areas:
  

  1. Green Tourism: Addressing climate action, environmental protection, sustainable infrastructure, circular approaches, and visitor engagement in sustainability.

  2. Digitalization: Promoting digitalization to enhance productivity, infrastructure management, and visitor experiences.

  3. Skills: Emphasizing the need to provide tourism workers, especially youth and women, with skills to future-proof jobs and make tourism a more attractive career.

  4. Tourism MSMEs: Highlighting the importance of supporting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in the tourism sector through policies, partnerships, and addressing challenges like financing, marketing, and skills gaps.

  5. Destination Management: Proposing actions to strengthen public-private-community partnerships and enhance holistic destination management.

• The Goa Roadmap aims to ensure that tourism recovery post-pandemic is sustainable, inclusive, and resilient.

• The G20 economies represent a significant portion of global GDP, trade, population, international tourists, and tourism exports.

• UNWTO and the UN Environment Programme hosted a side event on "Towards a circular economy of plastics in tourism" to address plastic pollution in tourism operations.

• The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative provides guidance on achieving a circular economy of plastics in tourism and saw participation from countries, accommodations, and aviation sectors.

• The Central Nodal Agency for Sustainable Tourism of India, along with the Government of Punjab and the Responsible Tourism Society of India, became signatories of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative.

• Tourism has the potential to address societal challenges while being transformed to address its socio-economic impacts, according to Shri G. Kishan Reddy, Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Development of North Eastern Region, Government of India.