Future of Tourism

We’ve joined the movement to reshape the Future of Tourism! We are excited to announce that Highland Tourism has signed the new set of Guiding Principles launched by the Future of Tourism Coalition.

 

As a signatory, we commit to place destination needs at the center of our recovery strategies and do our part to build a better tomorrow for travel and tourism. Learn more at www.futureoftourism.org.

The Future of Tourism Coalition is a collaborative effort to chart a new, more sustainable direction for tourism and shift the status quo. The Coalition is pursuing a shared global mission: to place destination needs at the center of tourism’s new future.

The Coalition is comprised of six non-governmental organizations that have come together for the first time and stand united in their appeal for change. These organizations are: the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), Destination Stewardship Center, Green Destinations, Sustainable Travel International, Tourism Cares, and the Travel Foundation, with the guidance of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).

Decades of unfettered growth in travel have put our world’s treasured places at risk –environmentally, culturally, socially, and financially. Despite earnest attempts to counteract the trend by many responsible parties, widespread degradation has persisted. While the members of the Coalition have always seen the need for a fundamental shift in how tourism works, COVID-19 has added urgency to this matter and further highlighted both tourism’s positive and negative impacts on destinations around the world. Tourism now faces a challenge and a choice in how to recover, and an unprecedented opportunity to unite around a new vision and chart a better course into the future.

The Coalition has collaboratively developed and launched a set of Guiding Principles that outline a bold vision for tourism’s path forward. The 13 principles provide a clear moral and business imperative for building a healthier tourism industry, while protecting the places and people on which it depends.

The Coalition is calling upon tourism agencies, travel companies, governments, investors, non-governmental organizations, and destination communities to sign on to these Guiding Principles. By voicing their commitment, signatories agree to align their strategies and actions behind this transformative set of principles as they move forward from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Coalition will support signatories in this journey to build a new future and aide them in advancing their long-term sustainability strategy. The Coalition is currently assessing the needs of signatories so that it can provide more targeted, in-depth and personalized resources that will help them align to the Guiding Principles.