THE Philippines will be among the countries that will pilot test specific ways to measure tourism’s impact on the environment.
This was disclosed by Tourism Undersecretary Rolando Cañizal, after delegates to the Sixth United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) International Conference on Tourism Statistics adopted last Saturday the “Manila Call For Action” on measuring sustainable tourism.
He told the BusinessMirror that the document “is envisioned to mobilize countries to start the process of identifying indicators and methodology to assess the impact of tourism to the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) considering that tourism is responsible for SDG 8, 12, and 14.”
SDGs refer to the targets of the UN, which member-nations use to frame their government policies for a sustainable world by 2030. These include ending poverty and hunger, gender equality and equal access to health and education, among others. Three of them, Cañizal said, are related to tourism: SDG 8 refers to Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 12 is on Responsible Consumption and Production and SDG 14 is Life Below Water.
“The Philippines,” he stressed, “will also be part of the pilot areas” in drafting a framework for measuring sustainable tourism. The other pilot area is Fiji.
According to the UNWTO, sustainable tourism is tourism that “takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities. Sustainable tourism should thus make optimal use of environmental resources, respect host communities and ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing benefits that are distributed fairly among stakeholders.”
The Department of Tourism (DOT) official said the conference was also successful in starting the discussion “to link the tourism satellite account [TSA] with the environmental ecosystem account.” In linking the two accounts, particular focus will be made on four different environmental flows: water, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions and solid waste.
At present, tourism statistics mainly measure visitor arrivals and tourism receipts, among others, without taking into consideration the industry’s impact on the environment and a traveler’s effect on the ecosystem of the destination he visits. The Philippines is regarded as one of the pioneers in developing the TSAs.
Data from the Philippines TSA in 2016 indicated that the tourism sector contributed 8.6 percent to local economy, in terms of tourism direct gross value added. Employment in tourism was estimated at 5.2 million in 2016, up 5.1 percent from 2015. The data also showed tourism jobs accounted for 12.8 percent of total employment in the country in 2016.
About 1,000 delegates from some 60 countries discussed many key issues on measuring sustainable tourism, during the four-day conference at Marriott Hotel in Newport City, Pasay.
Igor Chernyshev, consultant for the International Labor Organization and UNWTO, in his paper, “Employment, Green Jobs and Sustainable Tourism”, said tourism jobs were one of the crucial pillars in measuring sustainable tourism (MST). He urged that tourism development should be handled carefully as it works to improve a country’s economy and social well-being.
He sees a critical need to “develop tourism products with a sustainable focus, helping to fit in with the local environment and ensure its preservation”. If not handled properly, “tourists will migrate to competing destinations or attractions,” he emphasized.
For her part, Roxana Arguedas, head of Information Management at the Costa Rican Tourism
Board, urged the “need for a good methodology”, since tourism is a large industry to measure.
Referring to her country experience, she proposed a social progress index (SPI) methodology as “a tool for measuring and understanding the well-being of the residents of tourist destinations to improve the way the public-private agendas are set in order to support social progress and inclusive and sustainable economic growth.”
She cited three indicators that can measure SPI, which include basic human needs, foundation of well-being and opportunities.
Vincent Nijs, project manager for research of Visit Flanders in Belgium, underscored the importance of the well-being of the residents in a tourist destination, as a key in projecting the place’s desirability. “Even the best destinations need supportive, happy and positive residents to convey the identity of the destinations in a positive way,” he observed in his study, titled “Learnings from Resident Attitudes towards Tourism for Tourism City
Management Activities.”
Citing the city of Bruges as an example, Nijs said a destination’s residents need to be empowered to enhance support for tourism. “Empowered residents are better ambassadors, spokesmen of the city. The more residents feel empowered—proud, feel connected, are given a voice, are part of policy- making and planning—the more they see positive impacts and less of the negative impacts of tourism activities,” he said. “The more they see positive impacts, the more they support tourism.”
1 comment