Countries across the world unveiled at the ongoing COP26 conference in Glasgow in the UK a coalition aimed to make global tourism eco-friendlier.
Ministers from major tourism destinations and leaders from international organizations voiced their support to achieve this through the Sustainable Tourism Global Center or STGC.
The STGC is said to be a multi-country, multi-stakeholder coalition established to lead, accelerate, and track the tourism industry’s transition to net-zero emissions
It is also expected to drive action to protect nature and support communities.
The center will be headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and may open regional offices in other countries, with a strong multilingual online presence.
The global tourism industry is highly fragmented, with developing countries and Small Island Developing States or SIDS, being most reliant on tourism for their economies, according to a report on the official Saudi Press Agency.
More than 40 million tourism businesses — or 80 percent of the whole industry — are small or medium sized, the report said.
Countries have prioritized climate, tourism, and SMEs, which will allow for synergies for this initiative, said the report.
The countries invited to be part of this important coalition in phase one are the UK, the US, France, Japan, Germany, Kenya, Jamaica, Morocco, Spain, and Saudi Arabia.
Other countries and organizations are expected to be invited to join in phase two.
The center’s strategy would apparently be shaped by a coalition of governments, international organizations, academia, multilateral and financing institutions, and industry associations.
In addition, a group of global experts in tourism and climate is apparently being assembled to support this effort.
The top organizations expected to help to shape the center and provide the services in phase one are the World Resource Institute, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Environment Program, International Chamber of Commerce, World Travel and Tourism Council, World Bank, and SYSTEMIQ.
This is in addition to Harvard University, which will reportedly provide support to the STGC through research and capacity-building.
Meanwhile, the UNFCCC is expected to guide the center to accelerate industry action on climate neutrality.
The center will apparently aim to deliver services and products across three core pillars: knowledge creation and sharing, measurement and monitoring, and industry enablement.
Across these pillars, the STGC will reportedly focus on at least in nine areas of industry support, including developing standards and resource provision for the tourism sector, capability building, and project funding and investment.