Measuring theSustainability of Tourism (MST)

Introduction to MST:

Measuring the Sustainability of

Tourism

Why MST?

“[..] is a continuous process

and requires constant

monitoring of impacts”

Sustainable Tourism

“Tourism that takes full

account of its current and

future economic, social and

environmental impacts,

addressing the needs of

visitors, the industries, the

environment and host

communities”

• UN 2030 Agenda: understand and monitor the

role of tourism in achieving the Sustainable

Development Goals

• To support policy and track progress, Member

States need data that is comparable,

comprehensive and coherent between

national – subnational

Data gap: Tourism statistics currently focuses

on economic impact. Need statistics on

tourism’s social and environmental aspects.

Aspects of MST

UNSD / UNWTO supported macro

project with 3 key lines of work:

1. Development of a statistical standard

2. Implementation in countries: pilots,

capacity building

3. Data collection / reporting

Developing a statistical

framework

Development of SF-MST follows a standard UN process

Multidisciplinary stakeholder engagement

Innovation in statistics, 1st statistical framework to integrate:

• 3 pillars of sustainability

• Global, national, regional & local

Advantages of statistical approach: trust, comparability, relevance, (spatial)

coherence

Build on existing statistical standards

• SNA, TSA, SEEA, Labour

1993 1996

Today

1999 20052000

Nice Conference on the Measurement of

the Economic Impact

of Tourism (1999)

Iguazú

Conference on “The Tourism Satellite

Account (TSA):

Understanding Tourism

and Designing Strategies”

(2005)

Adoption of TSA (Tourism Satellite Accounts)

(2000)

2004 2008 2014 2015 2016 / 2017

The Guidebook

on Indicators of Sustainable

Development for

Tourism Destinations

(2004)

International

Recommendations for Tourism Statistics (2008)

Development of Tourism Statistics over time

RTS(Recommendations on

Tourism Statistics) (1993)

2009

UNWTO/INRouTe

Handbookon sub-national measurement

and analysis of tourism

SEEA/Tourism“linked tourism and

environmental economic

accounts (SEEA-TSA)”

Update of TSA (Tourism

Satellite Account: Recommended

Methodological Framework) (2008)

Revised Guidebook on

Indicators of Sustainable Development for

Tourism Destinations

UNWTO/INRouTeSub-national Measurement

and Analysis –

Towards a Set of UNWTO

Guidelines (2013)

2013

Bali Conference on Tourism: An Engine

for Employment Creation

(2009)

UNWTO/ ILOMeasuring Employment in

the Tourism Industries –

Guide with Best Practices

(2014)

SDG / SCP / 10 YFP

What tourism

managers need to

know A practical guide to the

development and use of

indicators of sustainable

tourism (1996)

Placing SF-MST in context

Key benefits of SF-MST• The foundation for providing a single, coherent and complete picture of the

sustainability of tourism

• A common language for discussing the sustainability of tourism

• The ability to compare the performance of the tourism sector and the impacts of different policies on a consistent basis

• A basis for • identifying and assessing opportunities to use new data sources • improving co-ordination in data collection and organization, • improving the effectiveness of training and capacity building, improving

institutional arrangements for the management of statistics on tourism.

Implementation in countries

Pilots

Pioneering implementation to test relevance & feasibility

Austria, Canada, Cabo Verde (pending), Fiji, Germany, Italy, Mexico,

Netherlands, Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Sweden and more in the

pipeline

MST Implementation Toolkit

• Readiness Assessment tool

• Introductory module on MST in related Capacity Building initiatives

• Regional Capacity building Workshop

• Technical assistance

How is MST governed?

UNWTO Committee

onStatistics

UN Statistical

Commission

MST WorkingGroup

MST Editorial Board

(Philippines)

Subgroupon SDGs(Austria)

Subgroupon

employment(ILO)

Subgroup onimplementation

(Canada)

Subgroupon social

(Italy)

Subgroupon

subnational(France)

Consensus building:

✓ UN process

✓ Global Consultations

✓ International Conferences

(Manila Call for Action)

✓ Liaising with relevant

international groups

Members of MST Working Group

Austria Georgia Malaysia Portugal

Argentina Germany Mexico Saudi Arabia

Cabo Verde Indonesia Mozambique South Africa

Canada Ireland Netherlands Spain

Egypt Italy Oman Sweden

France Fiji Philippines Uruguay

What are the sustainability

issues to be addressed?

Sustainable tourism: Policy interests

Discussion: For your country what are the key policy interests in regard to tourism? Note that this can cover the impacts of tourism on the economy, the environment and/or on local communities.

Economic issues:

Environmental issues:

Social issues:

Spatial scales: National / Regional / Destination

Possible issuesEconomic Environmental Social

▪ Water▪ Energy▪ Waste▪ GHG emissions▪ Land▪ Ecosystems▪ Biodiversity▪ Protected areas/parks▪ Natural resources

▪ Tourism industryvalue added

▪ Tourism establishments

▪ Tourism employment

▪ Visitors numbers▪ Visitors

expenditure▪ Investment &

infrastructure

▪ Community▪ Health outcomes▪ Education▪ Income & wealth▪ Decent work▪ Governance▪ Human rights▪ Accessibility▪ Culture/heritage▪ Security

Demands for data

What information do you currently use to support the policy issues raised above?

What information would you like to have that is currently not available to develop, support and monitor evidence based tourism policy?

Tables of the SF-MST

SF-MST Tables: Economic

SF-MST Tables: Employment

Environmental tables

Environmental flows• Water

• Energy

• GHG emissions

• Solid waste

Environmental assets• Land

• Land cover (beaches, reefs, mountains, etc) and land use

(accommodation, recreation, national parks)

• Water

• Wildlife

• Ecosystems

SF-MST Tables: GHG emissions

SF-MST Tables: Wildlife

SF-MST: Social concepts

SF-MST: Social aspects (1)

Social context:

• Income and wealth distribution; Poverty

• Health; Nutrition

• Housing and access to services such as water, sewerage andenergy

• Education and literacy

• Personal security, safety, crime, peace

• Human rights – discrimination, empowerment, social equity

• Subjective well-being / Life satisfaction.

SF-MST: Social aspects (2)

Decent work

Institutions and governance

Perception and experience

Visitors and host communities

Accessibility

Culture and heritage

SF-MST: Spatial aspectsSF-MST recommends developing, progressively, a regional tourisminformation system (R-TIS)

Core themes of interest within an R-TIS:

• Visitor flows including both international and domestic visitors

• Accommodation

• Characteristics of tourism businesses in the region

• Visitor expenditure

• Employment and jobs in tourism industries

• Decent work

• Resident population

• Household income (average and distribution)

• Environmental flows: water use, energy use, GHG emissions, solidwaste

• Land use and land cover

Examples of MST pilots

SF-MST: Examples

SF-MST: Examples

Philippines

https://webunwto.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/imported_images/50458/wge_mst_2nd_item_3.1.2.pdf

Sweden

https://webunwto.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/imported_images/51342/19th_statcom_item_6.1_pres.pdf

Sustainable tourism: Matchingdata and policy interests

Discussion: Does your country have data to start measuring the key policy interests identified earlier?

Economic data:

Environmental data:

Social data:

If you don’t know – which agencies would you ask? Are their international data sets you might consider?

SF-MST: Lessons

Getting started is possible – data are available

Modular approach is needed – don’t think about doing everything at once

Clarify the policy question first, make measurement relevant to context

Extension of TSA to integrate environmental flows is the most common entrypoint

Further testing needed to demonstrate use of MST at destination level

Clear potential of a common framework to allow for exchanging experiencesand better supporting decision making

Summary: Continuing the

journey of tourism statistics

Tourism = visitors& industries(basictourismstatistics)

Why?

• Confusion, users needed a common language

• More and more people travelling for tourism purposes

• Awareness that tourism is demand side phenomenon

How?

• statistical approach

• scientific, cognisant of other official statistics, comparability, stable yet flexible, aspirational (existing ≠needed), user-centric

What?

• UN consensus / standard

• Compilation Guide, capacity building, training, technical assistance

• Most comprehensive global database

Tourism = economic impact(Tourism SatelliteAccount)

Why?

• Awareness about tourism’s economic role + developmentpotential

• Need for credibility

How?

• System of National Accounts “satellite” (magnifying glass ontourism)

• Linking demand + supply

• GDP, GVA, (full time equivalent) jobs (≠ persons employed)

What?

• UN consensus / standard

• Capacity building, training, technical assistance

• Tourism Direct GDP, production accounts

• ± 90 countries with TSA

• Economic impact studies

Tourism = economy, environment, society(MeasuringtheSustainabilityof Tourism)

Why?

• Better measure to better manage

• 2030 Agenda/SDGs + UN Statistical Commission

• Manila Call for Action 2017

How?

• Statistical approach

• Standing on the shoulders of giants

• Structured, multidisciplinary engagement

• Continuous pilot testing + feedback loops

What?

• Economic, social, environmental + spatial

• UN endorsement

• Countries have tool to produce more relevant, comparable, spatially coherent data

• Implementation roadmap

• SDG tourism indicators database

Innovation.Consensus.

Information.Measuring tourism for the betterment of people, planet and prosperity