How can destinations align with Sustainable Development Goals?
In 2017, GLP produced a video highlighting the often-overlooked benefits of sustainable tourism for the United Nation’s declared “International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development”. Framed within the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, this declaration demonstrates the powerful role tourism has on communities, development, economics, and the environment. And although 5 years have passed, it’s as important as ever to put sustainable tourism models into action.
Earth Changers sums up the SDGs perfectly: “The purpose of the SDGs is to end poverty and hunger, improve health and education, make cities more sustainable, combat climate change, protect the world and oceans from environmental degradation and foster prosperous, peaceful, just and inclusive societies.”
And, unlike other industries, tourism is uniquely positioned to address each of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, creating a more robust industry that in turn creates a more sustainable world.
Photo by GLP Films
The “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all"
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are a set of 17 categories that aim to make a more prosperous, sustainable, and equitable world. They address interconnected social, economic, and environmental issues, and produce a plan to improve conditions worldwide by 2030.
In this article, we will take a look at how the SDGs are related to and can be incorporated into destinations. We’ll assign each SDG to a primary category — either social, economic, or environment — while simultaneously recognizing that all are interconnected, and the issues (and benefits of improvement) have impacts upon each of the other categories.
Benefits of aligning to sustainable development goals as a destination
Tourism is uniquely equipped to align with the United Nations SDGs due to its vast impact and dependencies across a variety of industries. There are very few sole industries that have the potential to alter supply chains, protect and conserve culture and heritage sites, employ locals, sustainably develop communities, provide an influx of external economic opportunities, and beyond, simultaneously.
In the effort that follows, we will take a look at the SDGs through social, economic, and environmental lenses, and evaluate the role of tourism in helping to achieve the goals set forth by the United Nations.
How can Destinations implement socially-focused Sustainable Development Goals?
The SDGs are inherently people-focused, and many aim to create a higher quality of life, security and safety, peace and prosperity, as well as advance social justice and equitable opportunities throughout the world.
Although many are strongly linked to economic or environmental objectives, we consider the following to be primarily of a social nature:
Photo by GLP Films
Governance is strongly linked to these SDGs in particular but does not omit the role of trade and business in achieving these. In fact, institutions and sectors across all levels must cooperate in order to achieve these social objectives.
Destinations that are highly dependent upon tourism as an economic tool have an obligation to treat opportunities in tourism as a pathway towards social justice and economic equality within their own communities.
Examples of socially-focused Sustainable Development Goals
Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) can consider the following in order to advance the social goals set forth by the SDGs:
Support locally-owned, as well as women and minority-owned businesses throughout the destination
Develop safe, reliable, efficient transportation options that support tourism routes as well as popular community routes, and foster safe, walkable cities that reduce violence
Consider a tourist tax that can contribute to local education funds
Individual businesses can consider donations that support education, fighting hunger, employment opportunities, renewable energy solutions, and beyond
Cities should consider affordable childcare options
Take a look at the creative social solution from SockMob in London, UK. This organization is using walking tours to lift people out of poverty. People experiencing homelessness are trained as tour guides that walk tourists around the city, weaving personal perspectives into stories of history. The fees cover the tour guides’ pay, with a small amount being recycled back into funding the project. It also improves wellness by inspiring hope and alleviating hunger that can often accompany homelessness.
Community-based Tourism is a tool to incorporate economic SDGs into a destination and ensure that within the system, locals, not conglomerates or chains, benefit from tourists. Thailand has instigated several projects that foster tourist engagement with local communities and provide authentic cultural exchanges and experiences.
Home-stays are an incredible way for tourists to really experience Thailand’s culture, as visitors get to ‘live’ with a Thai family during their stay taking them out of the role of observer, and instead embedding themselves in the Thai way of life. This offers a unique, memorable, transformational experience for the visitors, adding incentive to protect culture and heritage, an opportunity to experience rural or remote regions without typical tourism trappings, and fosters peace and understanding between cultures. It could be argued that this is a case study that as equally fits into the economic category as well, since it addresses economic SDGs by offering financial opportunities to the local communities directly, and provides an innovative opportunity for decent work and economic growth.
How can destinations implement economically-focused Sustainable Development Goals?
The SDGs recognize how strongly interlinked social equity is with economic opportunity, as well as how economic success can threaten natural and limited resources. The SDGs we’ve chosen to place in this category strive for a balance between all categories, advancing economic growth in a more equitable manner to improve opportunities, eliminate poverty, and utilize innovative solutions to diminish our historically excessive plundering and sabotage of natural resources as we move toward 2030.
We consider the following to be primarily of an economic nature, although overall objectives are strongly linked to social goals:
Photo by GLP Films
Tourism destinations can significantly contribute to these economically-focused SDGs, as one of the unique gifts of tourism—when done properly—is the ability to attract external affluence and distribute it locally. In fact, when trying to link Sustainable Development goals to a destination, tourism destinations should focus on how to foster the local distribution of wealth and economic opportunity.
Examples of economically-focused Sustainable Development Goals
Similar to social goals, supporting locally owned businesses will keep tourism money in the region to pull locals out of poverty and reduce the wealth gap
Creating a robust tourism experience means plenty of options and experiences for visitors. Creative solutions to creating jobs, such as local walking, boating, or cycling tours can help retain visitors and offer a stable income for locals
Create funding opportunities for sustainably-focused micro, small, and medium enterprises
A destination has the obligation to take a fragmented industry and create collaboration between businesses and organizations. Reduce negative competitiveness between offerings by creating tour packages, and spreading tourists between experiences, while providing a variety of businesses the opportunity to thrive.
Similarly, inter-destination cooperation can make an appealing package for long-distance visitors, and spread tourism stress, as well as income, across communities
Maine, USA is an example of inter-destination tourism that encourages travel between locations and instead of competitiveness, depends on collaboration and uses the varying regions of the state to attract tourists. Learn more in our video below.
The tourism industry faced an unprecedented downturn during the pandemic, which hit members of the industry hard. Local Purse is an exceptional example of innovative solutions to promote local vendors and tour guides during a time of limited travel. Co-founded by Lola Akinmade Åkerström, and minority-owned, we’re thrilled to recognize Local Purse as a fellow Newsweek Future of Travel Award Winner.
How can destinations implement environmentally-focused Sustainable Development Goals?
“Sustainable Development” can’t be achieved without responsible use of resources and recognizing the interconnectedness and fragility of earth’s natural systems. Many of the SDGs focus on restoring balance to these systems through responsible interaction with them.
Although many are strongly linked to economic or social objectives, we consider the following to be primarily of an environmental nature:
Photo by GLP Films
Tourism has a strong relationship to each of these SDGs.
Firstly, any destination that attracts visitors because of its natural endowment has an opportunity (and an obligation) to protect and conserve the natural landscape. Doing so not only protects the destination’s appeal but offers the chance to educate visitors while they are in a positive space for experiencing and being open to new things.
Efforts put forth by tourism destinations, and communicated adequately, can encourage the spread of responsible recreation in water and on land, even beyond the destination.
On top of that, the infrastructure needed for tourism has endless opportunities to cut emissions and become living examples of climate action. If you haven’t joined yet, consider signing the Glasgow Declaration to make “the global commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and reach Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050.”
Examples of environmentally-focused Sustainable Development Goals
For instance, destinations may consider a few of the following when looking to protect the environment:
The latest technology in energy can be used to cut emissions, measure data, and conserve resources. Consider solar power, low flow appliances, digital soil moisture monitoring for landscaping, energy-efficient lighting retrofits, and daylighting techniques in new builds
To protect marine ecosystems, consider educating the public on the effects of sunscreen on water ecosystems, and only allow reef-safe sunscreen to be sold in sun, sea, and sand destinations; limit the toll of commercial, luxury, and private fishing expeditions by rotating marine protected areas to allow ‘safe zones’ for fish reproduction and growth; utilize sea turtle-friendly lighting in breeding zones
On land, providing adequate access to bathrooms and trash cans can help reduce pollution from litter and human excrement in popular recreation areas
Sedona, Arizona (USA) is a massively popular tourist destination, accommodating millions of visitors a year in a fragile ecosystem environment. Signage, education, and stakeholder engagement in environmental conservation campaigns are musts for the protection of this unique destination.
Sedona Tourism Board is incorporating environmental protection, conservation, and responsible recreation into stakeholder conversations, organizational messaging, and communications campaigns in order to spread awareness of how to best engage with the local landscape. GLP worked with Sedona to capture local stories and provoke a strong sense of stewardship and pride in the protection of the region, and share that message via visually-appealing video campaigns that capture the reverence and significance of this place.
See the trailer below.
Utilizing strong communications campaigns to get pivotal stakeholders on board
Strong, strategic destination management is essential to embedding sustainability into your tourism model. Using the UN’s SDGs as a guide can help identify important spheres where action should be taken for significant results.
Part of strategic management is to identify and include stakeholders in discussions and action plans. Identifying stakeholders in tourism can be difficult because tourism is so fragmented, but look to the public sector, host community, business sector, and knowledge community for parties that should be and are invested in the local tourism industry.
The inclusion of these voices will create well-rounded coordination, foster collaboration and ownership, and overall, create a successful and sustainable tourism experience:
It can reveal a 360-degree view of issues and concerns that may be overlooked, therefore providing input for creative solutions that meet the needs of all stakeholders
It leads to buy-in and ownership of selected actions and projects when the local community is involved in the ideation and decision-making process
It fosters collaboration and can spark motivation for greater involvement, creating a more cohesive tourism experience, and providing tools for social, environmental, and economic improvement across all sectors that support and uphold the tourism industry
How can we help?
At GLP, we’re passionate about the growth of sustainable and regenerative tourism. Video and storytelling are our tools of choice when it comes to brand messaging and communication. Our people-first approach builds strong relationships with stakeholders and pulls in a variety of voices and characters to connect sustainable messaging to a targeted audience. And we’re always on the lookout for how your destination is contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals and can’t wait to share your efforts through compelling video and storytelling.
Check out GLP’s featured work to see how we utilize storytelling, inclusion of local voices, and powerful imagery to promote responsible travel.
Interested in aligning destination management with the SDGs through your communication campaigns? We can’t wait to hear from you. Reach out here to see how we can help.